With IQs ranging from 115 to 130, it is sometimes stated that college students are noticeably smarter than the general population. However, such “truth” is terribly outdated, as a group of Canadian experts noted in a recently published summary of an analytical study.
Why Undergraduates’ Average IQ Has Dropped by 17 Points Since 1939?
The meta-analysis, which was carried out by psychologist and Mount Royal University lecturer Bob Uttl, first author, and co-authors Victoria Viola and Lacey Gibson, combined data from several studies that measured college students’ IQ between 1939 and 2022. The findings indicate that college students’ IQs have gradually dropped from an average of 119 to 102 today, which is only marginally higher than the population average of 100. To put it briefly, people who are not in college are not any smarter than the general public.
Education levels are increasing
There are various reasons why this discovery is intriguing. Firstly, the “Flynn Effect,” which denotes the gradual rise in the IQ levels of the general public over time, contrasts sharply with the IQ loss among college students. In 1984, James Flynn presented a paper demonstrating that Americans’ IQ had increased about three points per decade during the previous 46 years — a gain that Flynn concluded was not related to recalibration of IQ tests is done typically every 15 years. His findings have since been reproduced by other researchers, and the growth in IQ appears to have continued (although there are signals of a possible reversal in the first two decades of the 21st century).
According to recent research, being accepted into college does not always require the same level of intelligence as it once did.assessed with an IQ test. IQ tests are helpful, but they don’t provide a precise indicator of intellect. After all, intelligence manifests itself in a variety of ways that go far beyond what a test question may ask.
“The decline in student IQ is an inevitable consequence of the increase in educational attainment over the past 80 years,” said the investigators. “More people graduate from college today than from high school in the 1940s.”
An increasing number of young people are pursuing college degrees because they are perceived as the key to both a comfortable middle-class living and a successful career. The readily available government student loans are driving this approach.
However, there might be an issue with this free pass to higher education. Statistics from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center show that only 58% of students studying management graduate in less than six years. Moreover, there exists a negative correlation between dropout rates and IQ: a lower IQ indicates a higher likelihood of a student leaving college without a degree and maybe with debt. According to a seminal research, the likelihood of graduation for white American college students with IQs only somewhat above average was about 50/50.
Is it better for students or the educational institutions that give them the college experience to submit them to a coin flip that produces such outcomes? Observers have contended over time that institutions have become increasingly corporate, pitching younger, gullible consumers the chance to get a degree (and a better life). The National Center for Education Statistics states that in 1980, the cost of a four-year, full-time college, adjusted for inflation, was $10,231 per year. Thirty years on, the cost went climbed to $28,775. The days of hailing universities as centers of learning for curious minds are long gone. They now function more like a major company.
The good news is that not everyone has to be intelligent and wealthy to attend college; however, there are repercussions if the pendulum swings too far in the other side.
The value of a degree?
The researchers stated that “universities and professors need to realize that students are no longer exceptional but rather average and that they need to modify their curricula and academic standards.” Employers can therefore no longer assume that candidates with college degrees are more capable or intelligent than those without.
The drop in IQ during college might be just one more indication that a college degree is becoming less and less valuable over time. Paradoxically, a degree gains importance as it becomes the prerequisite for most jobs. useless when more people succeed in achieving it. To set themselves apart, however, prospective students who are concerned about taking on a lot of debt are turning away from higher education at an increasing rate. The number of undergraduate students enrolled in US schools is projected to decrease from 16.6 million in 2015 to 14.4 million in 2021.
A Wall Street Journal-NORC study conducted last year revealed that 56% of Americans believe that attending college is not worthwhile for the first time. Ten years ago, fifty-three percent said it was worthwhile. Those between the ages of 18 and 34 exhibit the largest levels of skepticism, hence college students are currently the most skeptical demographic.