this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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Sept. 8, 2000 -- A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”

He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.

Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.

But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.

Jordan has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago

I didn't get a job I applied for a few years ago for a broadly similar reason. Also they thought (correctly) that I didn't know a lot about web development.

So I was rejected for being simultaneously overqualified and underqualified.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Maybe he should consider a career in writing high fantasy novels instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

He could try a joint series with Brandon Sanderson!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Smart people think too much to go along with the propaganda and indoctrination

"Great minds think for themselves"

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago

Great minds and intelligence are different. Many intelligent people like to do the thing they like to do and not think about other things. The NSA is filled with these people. Other smart people think their way into justifying awful things like von Neumann and Edmond Teller who were both strong proponents of hydrogen bombs.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not applying to become a cop in the first place is the ultimate intelligence test

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What's your alternative to having cops?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago

Transformative justice

[–] [email protected] 32 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This is widely cited and I agree it happened and it's messed up, but I think it would be more interesting to see some kind of broader analysis of how common this practice is, which I haven't been able to find solid information on. I've seen this a number of times and there are always comments offering speculation on how the system works, and maybe a few anecdotes, but I've talked to people who are skeptical that this is a larger phenomenon and I can't exactly offer anything to prove it to them.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Not sure we should be doing IQ test for Police officers, EQ would be much more important, you'd rather have a slightly less intelligent police officer who tries to relate to you rather than an intelligent quasi sociopath happy to unload their magazine into you at first sign of trouble, wouldn't you?

Pretty sure IQ testing has a racist origin anyway, so let's just leave it behind

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

The problem with EQ is that it's relatively new and there isn't many out there measuring it in a meaningful way. We know what it is. But like a thermometer measures the temperature someone had to figure what those tolerances are for each temperature. No one has done that with EQ in any meaningful way the last time I checked.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

you'd rather have a slightly less intelligent police officer who tries to relate to you rather than an intelligent quasi sociopath

Sure, I would, but no way the sociopaths at the top would want that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

That's a fair argument, but what I'm saying is more wondering to what extent this is really how things work and how that can be confirmed, than making a statement about how things should be. Every time I see this discussion everything is extrapolated from this single court case about a single police department.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Has the average intelligence increased? As in, someone who scored a 100 in 2024 would definitely be smarter than someone who scored a 100 in 1969.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Just cast LeadBeGone!! on a country, and watch the IQ rise.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

In general, yes. Average IQ increases by a point or two every few years, so the people who design the tests need to consistently create harder and harder tests to maintain a good baseline.

It’s a large part of why many people say IQ is a bad metric for intelligence; It really just tests your ability to solve problems within the context of your upbringing and life experience. A carpenter or machinist who constantly uses geometry in their day-to-day life will breeze through any geometry-based questions, for instance. And as jobs have become more complex and efficient, people have gotten better at basic problem solving.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Average IQ cannot increase or decrease. The test is calibrated so that 100 is always the average. It's for this reason and many others that comparing historical testing data is difficult.

In the revised version of his book "The mismeasure of man" (about biodeterminism and measurement) Gould was asked why he didn't draw the obvious comparison between IQ and phrenology. His answer was that such a comparison would be unfair... to phrenology. The methods of phrenology were bunk, but it's theory (that different regions of the brain were responsible for different functions) was sound. IQ fails both in methodology and theory.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I understand that, but that means that the test has to be adjusted, which means that the middle point keeps moving. Similar to currency: $100 is $100, in 1920 or 2024 they are the same, but they also aren’t the same. Our current IQ would yield a higher score the further we go into the past, and a lower score as we travel to the future.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

The short answer is "Yes". Scores rise about 3-pts every decade and the "Q" is adjusted accordingly. That said, modern education and modern intelligence testing aren't independent of one another. It is very possible to train for an IQ test and improve your score (a thing that was originally argued as impossible when these tests were formulated). And - both consciously and unconsciously - we've geared our education system around improvements on standardized exams.

There's also a host of environmental improvements - better nutrition, fewer diseases, less heavy metal poisoning - which all contribute to higher cognition. These latter factors are suggested in no small part thanks to a leveling off of the Flynn Effect in later years, both thanks to marginal declines in all of the above and thanks to the diminishing returns once individuals reach peak performance.

But intelligence testing is also a very sketchy and misunderstood field, with lots of scams surrounding its practical application and enormous stigmas associated with any population that scores "below average".

Much like polygraph testing and dowsing (yes, American police still use dosing rods), its a methodology that police seem to cling to long after it has worn out its usefulness in practical terms.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Aptitude tests aren't measures of education.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

No, but human intelligence increases over time. Just wondering if it’s been long enough since the invention of the test.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 6 months ago (4 children)

2000 called, it wants it's 24 year old article back.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I remember reading this on Fark.com

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Same deal here right before they spilled beer on the server.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I hadn't noticed how old this was, I wonder if they still have the same policy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Hold on. Can't we all just go back to that time instead?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Only if the time loop repeats on September 10, 2001. I wouldn’t want to relive the past 23 years.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

Yeah I thought it was a mistake when I saw the article date.

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