More on teachers' IQs: Here's a follow-up to the last post. I calculated mean IQ for different types of teachers. Keep in mind that samples sizes are low:


Mean IQ

High school teachers
Whites 108
Blacks 91

Women 107
Men 105

Teaches math 114
Teaches art, drama, or music 116
Teaches English 119
Teaches foreign languages 121

Elementary school teachers
1980s-90s 106
This decade 105

Kindergarten and pre-k
1980s-90s 99
This decade 102


The most striking finding is that IQs for black high school teachers are so much lower than for whites. I included specific types of high school teachers with large enough samples to calculate a mean. The numbers are all high. Elementary school teachers are not less intelligent than high school teachers, but people who teach little kids are.

What is the typical teacher's IQ? Reader David made an interesting comment on the post about the breadwinner family that with homeschooling your child is taught by someone with a IQ higher than that of the typical teacher (not to mention having the right politics).

What is the level of intelligence of today's high school teacher? Looking at GSS data, I calculated mean IQs for the 1980s and 1990s combined (N = 107) and for this decade (N = 68) . For the early period, the average was 107. Now it's 104. I'm not impressed.