The average IQ of a college graduate is 102.

The results are not surprising. Did the study cohort include US students.

And 40% of debt laden students don't graduate. I think we have relaxed standards, but far too many people (say with a median IQ of 102) go to college.

I don't think going to college (or not) has anything to do with IQ when you think about it:

You go to college to gain more knowledge (and hopefully wisdom). That is different from innate intelligence or raw IQ.

So why would we expect "college grads" to be any different (in terms of IQ) compared to the "average population"? Rigor of education and stimulation at a young age could influence IQ, as well as some lifestyle parameters....but assuming most make it through at least a high school education and are not neglected as children than the additional few years of a "college education" (compared to just hs) is unlikely to change one's IQ by any significant amount.

Society as a whole may be slightly regressing into an "Idiocracy"on average though. And that has more to do with genetics.

Don't I know it! I work for a Fortune 500 manufacturing company which has a hard on for degree requirements and advanced degrees like MBAs. For a bunch of college educated people, they all sure seem to detest college level vocabulary. Also, they oddly uphold mid tier state schools as being on the same level as elite tier institutions.

You don’t have to be remarkably intelligent to be a good student. I know people that are dumb as rocks that get 4.0s and I know borderline geniuses that flunked out.

The student that just shows up, takes their tests and gets Bs and Cs very well may be a more intelligent person than the student that studies 30 hours a week to get As and Bs. The latter is more likely to be successful though. Intelligence only gets you so far without work ethic.

If the *average* IQ of a graduate is 102, that means you probably have people well below 100, even sub-90 people in college. College is supposed to be too hard for people with below average intelligence. In fact, trade school is probably too hard for many people. Those with an IQ of 90 would be better served trying to get their reading level to a HS level, graduating HS, then trying to hold down a decent job, not wasting their time and money on a watered down college diploma.

E. Hirsch, a well known UVA professor, tried to nail down a threshold IQ for a "real"college degree-rudimentary science and calculus, rhetoric, history, and introductory foreign languages. He came up with a threshold IQ of 120 and was disturbed that too many students were going to college (even in the 1980s) given a well known normal distribution. Since he was an education professor, he was even more disturbed by the talents of students in his own department and a curriculum that avoided the classes mentioned above. He demanded the students get a four year degree in some other field on top of an education major. Ouch. I have no idea how accurate his work is and how it has stood up over time, but it is a reference point.

You're describing grade inflation and that's part of the problem. A person who is "dumb as rocks" isn't going to understand Shakespeare, differential calculus, etc.

I suspect many people agree with this in theory, but everyone thinks they or their kid is in the top 10%

Lol, you've tossed some red meat to the LetsRun mouth breathers. Looks like the conservative talking point du jour is hating on academia. Have fun riding the wave which got the Harvard President fired.

Probably has something to do with inflation and/or global warming. Definitely needs DEI to improve this.

If this guy is so smart, why does he think that's a "real college degree?" A bunch of 100 level courses is an AA degree maybe.

Do you even read what you link? The article tells you it’s because completing college is more common today than completing high school was back when it was 115 or whatever, so college students are roughly “average” people.

It has nothing to do with what’s taught in colleges, probably your pet peeve.

GOOD!!!

With how much a college degree can change one's life, why would you think this is a bad thing?

Are some people going when they shouldn't? Absolutely, but that has little to do with IQ.

Have things been dumbed down? I don't know. Maybe the general education stuff has been, but I struggle to get behind the idea that the difficulty of college matters much. The ease of classes just allows for more experiences anyways: internships, student teaching/tutoring, reasearch, etc. College isn't less challenging, the game has just changed.

If we should change anything about college, it's the pricing and the wastefullness of so much administrative nonsense. We should NOT go back to the days where only the lucky people (rich, very intelligent, good high school) should have a chance at college. An educated country is a safe, rich, successful country.

Americans have a lot to worry about in the future, but having an educated population isn't one of them.

I disagree. Giving a person with 100 IQ an education at Harvard where they are actively engaging with critical race theory as part of their coursework is like giving a 12 year old a Corvette.

Genetics would definitely play a part, but it is possible to increase or decrease one's IQ by a standard deviation through learned behaviours, practices and long-term habits.

I'm not convinced that the "idiocracy" we inhabit is purely a case of "selective breeding".

I mean yeah if you're exposed to lead as a child your IQ might drop a standard deviation.

My point was once you reach high school (standard American public school) and are mostly done physically growing I don't think your IQ is really going to magically increase by that much just because you do another "4 years of education" at some sort of college. Your knowledge base should increase though. But don't confuse intelligence with knowledge or wisdom.

I didn't say "idiocracy" was "purely" a case of selective breeding (linking to the movie clip was kind of a joke actually). The scary thing is it is kind of true with genetics and offspring (and a reason why society as a whole might actually be getting dumber on average compared to prior decades).

But like other posters have said: "the high school degree of yesterday is like a college degree today". Any average American (with an average income) can at least get some sort of "college degree." The quality of that education can vary a ton though.

And I can assure you, a kid with an IQ of only around 100 is not getting a 4.0 in a hard science (or engineering) at an Ivy or MIT. Their peers with IQs of 120-130 would crush them. Not all colleges are created equal with the rigor of programs and degree types.

Also realize someone with very poor quantitative skills might have a very high intelligence in networking and interpersonal skills.....which honestly at this day and age might serve them better in the business world.

Allegedly average IQ is going down, due to smart devices making people too lazy to use their brains.

Hence I'm not sure 100 is "average" anymore.

People just accept these academic studies as confirmed fact but where are any others that endorse its findings? I am sceptical for two reasons, firstly, that only a minority of the population go on to universities and they are those who have completed secondary school/college education and are thus generally above average intelligence. Secondly, if average intelligence is now the norm at universities that would mean they would either fail courses set for the higher level of intelligence - 115 and above IQ - that was the standard in the past or that the universities have reduced their standards to allow students of lesser ability to pass. If that is so then most professionals today - doctors, lawyers etc - would have fewer intellectual skills than their forbears. Degrees wouldn't mean today what they used to. All of this would be demonstrable in society. So where are the studies, and what is the evidence, that confirms the Canadian study?