One way of advancing our society

[LiquidHYDROGEN]

As a hole I think this theory is pretty much hogwash. Not only is it unrealistic but it is grossly unnecessary.



First of all with the way The Human mind works people have different strengths/talents in certain subject areas as compared to weak areas (relative to their strength in certian subject areas). Some people are very apt at memorizing, Some are better at understanding. Some people excel at the public speaking/presentation some are better with more analytical subject areas like Engineering, Math, Computer Science/IT and others. Yet some of these "geeky" Engineer/Math gurus will not be able to for the life of them stand in front of a executive board and be able to effectively and confidently make a presentation in front of them, while some people can do that easily. What makes a society more "educated" is the value and weight that society collectively puts on education. Take India a very educated and advanced society for example. At My University who's Engineering/IT factulty is dominated with Indian Professors, I've had casual off the record converstions with some noteworthy Professors from that Country that have won awards about the Indian Education system status. They were laughing telling me how much of a ridiculous assumption it is that Indians are "smarter" than Americans or other races, which is what the arguement a lot of American students would make when struggling with Math/Engineering. He talked about how the difference between Indians and other races is how Education is viewed there. In a nation of over a billion people with scarce recourses, kids are taught very early in their childhood if You do not study Your ass off, You will live a life of severe poverty. Its this mentality that India is today the leader in Software Engineering/Development and is the source of skilled labor all over the world. You can bring similar examples in Japan.

"Smart" or not smart the student's motivation/drive is what will ultimately give Him success in academia and eventually be able to let that person achieve accolades. One will NOT be able to get by Academia if they are not willing to sit down, and put in the time plain and simp;le. One will not be able to understand Integration in Calculus just because He's "Smart". I saw You make a reference to the Somalis who went to Somalia to fight for Shishkabab. Yes I have noticed that Somalis in America/West have been a major dissapointment (Especially the males) when it comes to education. This in my opinion is due more to the fact that unfortunately Somalis being refugees, and having to take whatever public housing is available to them were put in low income, crime ridden, horrible school system areas that were not conducive at all towards a young Man being able to succeed academically. I think putting Somalis in better neighobrhoods/school systems will immedietely be able to see dividends in America. As for in Somalia, I mean education right now is the least of their priorities when the most basic human necessities are unavailable.



All in all Your theory about selectively chosing who should be given a chance for an education and who shouldn't, by some selection process is ludicrious. Here in the States the way talent is recognized is through little stuff You wouldn't expect like Science Fairs, Book clubs, etc. once the talent is identified they're then put in more challenging, stimulating classes (Gifted and Talented) and it goes from there to Ivy League schools, post education (Masters) PhD, etc. but where did it all start? Those science fairs when the kid was 6-7 nobody thought of, but at the end of the day the credit goes to the Paren tof that child that challenged he/she to enter into it, put effort into it and it walloped to something special.

I've come to the same conclusion. Did you know the average high-achieving student in india goes to school from 7am-4/5pm, then relaxes from 5pm-7pm, then studies from 7pm-2am. They only sleep 4hrs and wake up at 6am to repeat the whole process again. In the weekends they have tutors teaching them. Compare that with a Somali or even a gaal in the west. This was from a study done by a professor from LSE.

People say education isn't all that, bullshit education is everything and people who say that are just lazy or disallusioned with their crappy school. Somalis have to start taking the indian example of the attitude towards education and work otherwise we will forever be the world's cess-pool.

Imam Malik and Imam Shafi'i (RA) did not even eat and they spent 90% of their time studying Hadith and fiqh. The only rest they had was a few moments when they were at the doorstep of their teachers waiting for them. Somali parents have failed in their job of making their children succeed eductationally. The mothers are too ignorant (most don't even speak the language of the country they are in) and the fathers are too lazy or even absent most of the time. How can you expect to have young somalis who are hard-working and appreciate eductaion when they come from such an environment.

[fisabililah]

All this talk of intelligence and I.Q is hard to take from a zindiiq, who believes we evolved from apes.

[union]

In a study published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience, UCLA neurology professor Paul Thompson and colleagues used a new type of brain-imaging scanner to show that intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain's axons, or wiring that sends signals throughout the brain. The faster the signaling, the faster the brain processes information. And since the integrity of the brain's wiring is influenced by genes, the genes we inherit play a far greater role in intelligence than was previously thought.

Genes have a very strong influence over how certain parts of our brains develop, scientists in the US and Finland have found. And the parts most influenced are those that govern our cognitive ability. In short, you inherit your IQ.

The potential for high IQ is inherited, but it will never be realized without proper education and nutrition. The Somali population has thousands of high IQ children who are probably languishing in poverty, so the government should make an effort in particular to find them and help them archive their potential. Highly drawn out opinion pieces that state anecdotes and other immaterial things aren't useful-please bring any scientific proof that inheritance has no role in intelligence.

[union]

Murux,

You nailed this one. There is no substitute for hardwork and self-motivation. Simply putting students into world-class universities is not the solution because if that was the case, then the Arab World would be a bastion of human civilazation and intellectual achievement.

Putting unintelligent students into word class universities will do nothing, as they will not benefit very much from it because of their low intelligence. Average kids will get by just barely. The highly intelligent kids will thrive. Unfortunately for them the Arabs only allow the children of the elites, who aren't necessarily smart, to gain the seats in the prestigious universities. Most of the knowledge produced in Arab countries is the result of the expat workers from south east Asia who entered the schools because of their own hard work and intelligence, and not nepotism.

[union]

i wonder if saif al islam actually wrote his own dissertation ..


you can easily get someone to write it for you

Doesn't the story of the Arabs undermine your own position? They are educated and fed well, where is the intelligence now?

[kadarre]

IQ tests are dying out and you have an unstable person like Union saying Somalis should have IQ tests.

Do you even know the History of IQ tests?

[union]

IQ tests are dying out and you have an unstable person like Union saying Somalis should have IQ tests.

Do you even know the History of IQ tests?

The U.S military uses IQ tests. In fact, they're even designing an IQ test for the Iraqi military as well.Their research and experience over the past few decades they've been using the ASVAB have shown that their is a correlation between inherent intelligence and performance on the battle field.

[Username1]

IQ tests are dying out and you have an unstable person like Union saying Somalis should have IQ tests.

Do you even know the History of IQ tests?

The U.S military uses IQ tests. In fact, they're even designing an IQ test for the Iraqi military as well.Their research and experience over the past few decades they've been using the ASVAB have shown that their is a correlation between inherent intelligence and performance on the battle field.

What the use of an IQ test if your dumb enough to belief that god does not exist?

[union]

IQ tests are dying out and you have an unstable person like Union saying Somalis should have IQ tests.

Do you even know the History of IQ tests?

The U.S military uses IQ tests. In fact, they're even designing an IQ test for the Iraqi military as well.Their research and experience over the past few decades they've been using the ASVAB have shown that their is a correlation between inherent intelligence and performance on the battle field.

What the use of an IQ test if your dumb enough to belief that god does not exist?

When did I ever make that statement?

[gurey25]

i wonder if saif al islam actually wrote his own dissertation ..


you can easily get someone to write it for you

Doesn't the story of the Arabs undermine your own position? They are educated and fed well, where is the intelligence now?

it depends on how you define intelliugence..

arabs make up less than 2 percente of the US population but they are overrepresented in NASA and JPL and other high technology orgs.

[S-D-M]

Today's kids need some ass wiping sxb. If you can memories the Quran than I believe you can be best engineer or MD you want to be. Hard work and good parenting pays off....Simple.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/201 ... ntoharvard

[kadarre]

Union you use the Army as an example? Get the hell outta here.

The only thing that these Western Nations are efficient at is exploitation. I can guarantee you if i take twins and put them in 2 different schools you will have one with a higher IQ.

IQ is something that is acquired. Don't come here and say IQ's should be the norm in the Somali education system.

[union]

Union you use the Army as an example? Get the hell outta here.

The only thing that these Western Nations are efficient at is exploitation. I can guarantee you if i take twins and put them in 2 different schools you will have one with a higher IQ.

IQ is something that is acquired. Don't come here and say IQ's should be the norm in the Somali education system.

Many studies like that have already been conducted, and they have all pretty much reached the same conclusion: intelligence is largely inherited.

Genes have a very strong influence over how certain parts of our brains develop, scientists in the US and Finland have found. And the parts most influenced are those that govern our cognitive ability. In short, you inherit your IQ.

Paul Thompson at the University of California at Los Angeles and his colleagues used MRI to scan the brains of 10 pairs of identical and 10 pairs of fraternal twins. Identical twins have identical genes, whereas fraternal twins sharing on average half their genes. The twins shared environments, means researchers can separate genetic and environmental factors.

The researchers found that certain regions of the brain were highly heritable. These included language areas, known as Broca's and Wernicke's areas, and the frontal region, which, among other things, plays a huge role in cognition.

In identical twins, these areas showed a 95 to 100 per cent correlation between one twin and the other - they were essentially the same. The frontal structure, says Thompson, appears to be as highly influenced by genes as the most highly influenced trait we know of - fingerprints.

"It's extraordinary how similar they are," he says. The finding suggests that environment - their own personal experiences, what they learned in life, who they knew - played a negligible role in shaping it.

Fraternal twins were near-identical in Wernicke's area, showing about 60 to 70 per cent correlation, but were less similar in other areas, . Random pairs of people would be expected to have no correlation.

[Murax]

@ genetically engineering a Educated nation.



It is better to have a entire educated class of people across the nation then to have a few "brilliant" intellectuals, inventors, scientists, etc. Creme rises to the crop and in a society Where education is heavilly invested in, the brightest will shine the most, point blank.

[union]

@ genetically engineering a Educated nation.



It is better to have a entire educated class of people across the nation then to have a few "brilliant" intellectuals, inventors, scientists, etc. Creme rises to the crop and in a society Where education is heavilly invested in, the brightest will shine the most, point blank.

Who's genetically engineering? As a people of 15 million, we are bound to have at least a few thousand highly intelligent already, we don't need to engineer anything.

And the fact of the matter is that most Somali students will not have access to quality education any time soon, the nation is just too poor. Nearly all Somali universities are rubbish diploma mills that do not adequately prepare students. Finding the brightest students and sending them abroad for quality education is the best short term option for combating the lack of professionals Somalia is facing.