Data: What is the IQ of the average black person with an advanced degree?

We know that colleges have gotten less selective as they have tried to boost the numbers of blacks and Hispanics.  (In fact, as higher education has gotten more egalitarian, it has become less selective for all races.)  My guess is that mean IQ for blacks of a given degree level has dropped over the past few decades.  Here's what GSS data say (N = 3,856):

It looks like I'm right, but only for graduate school.  Mean IQ in the 70s was 112, but now it has fallen all the way to 101.  For a 4-year degree, the average has hovered around 100.

Two things really strike me.  First, the average black with a Master's degree or higher has an IQ close to the average white in the general population. That really needs no comment, but you can imagine what the thesis is going to look like (if a thesis is even required).

Second, a black person with an advanced degree is basically not smarter than one with a bachelor's.  Universities are not recruiting a select bunch out of the pool of college graduates. They're selecting on other traits like who thinks a teaching assistantship sounds preferable to a real job.

Data shows that college liberalizes students

I was curious if college liberalizes students. Common sense tells me it does, but I have seen research that throws doubt on the idea.

Listed below are the mean conservatism scores by year of college for those attending college since 2000 (General Social Survey data).

Mean conservatism

Freshmen  4.04
Sophomores  3.71

Juniors  3.62
Seniors  3.69

Students tend to get more liberal as they move through college. The shift from the freshman to junior year is almost half a standard deviation, which means it is a fairly big change.  So it does look like academics are somewhat successful at their goal of turning our youth into progressives. They seem to have the most luck in the first three years--the seniors are no more liberal than juniors.

My faith in common sense is restored: From Rasmussen:

Eighty-percent (80%) of Americans believe that individuals learn more practical skills through life experience and work rather than through college. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 9% disagree and say more is learned in college.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say college teaches more. Those not affiliated with either major party are more likely to say that life experience matters more.

This college professor says amen, and once again we see more common sense coming from Republicans.

IQ, race, and college graduation: In my earlier post, I showed that the mean IQ for white, 4-year college grads dropped 9 points in about 4 decades to roughly 105. But what about large minority groups like blacks and Mexican Americans? The General Social Survey doesn't have enough cases to examine 10-year changes for these two groups, but the analysis of whites shows that the low average IQs have been seen over the last 20 years, so let's look at averages for blacks and Mex-Ams since 1990:


Mean IQs of 4-year college grads--1990-2006 average

Blacks 100.85 (N = 87)
Mexican Americans 99.52 (N = 27)

So minority students are completing college even though they have a 5 point IQ deficit when compared to whites. How are they able to graduate with less intelligence? More perseverance? Graduating, but with lower GPAs? Faculty allowing them to skate? The data don't allow us to say.

One other interesting question is differential graduation rates of black males and females. In my own classes, black girls outnumber the guys 4 to 1, easy. But according to the GSS, graduation is 2 to 1, so of course we'll go with that. Do more women attend and finish because of a higher mean IQ? No. Using the same years as described above, I looked the mean IQ of all blacks: women have a mean of 91.67, while the male mean is 93.32. (Remember that these estimates of IQ are vocabulary questions, and the black-white gap is not as large as with overall IQ tests).

So why do black women do better and go further with the same IQs? I suspect that the pathological aspect of black culture puts more pressure on black guys to not conform to what is perceived as the white system. You're not a real man, but kind of a bitch to do what everyone tells you to do. Women don't feel this pressure as much, and can conform and still feel like a woman.

Another possibility is patience and mental self-discipline. School requires a lot of self-restraint, and many black men, given a choice of whether to attend school or not, might not want to put themselves through more of what was very difficult for the past 12 years.

The answer to the male shortage on campus: I seem to be the only person here (at the university) who is concerned about the shortage of male students. Two-thirds of our criminal justice majors are women? Huh? But then it dawned on me how to get more guys in the seats. We need to hire smokin' hot women professors. It's guaranteed to work. No one has ever asked "Where are the male customers?" at Hooters. And if the instructors dress fashionably, it will keep the female students interested too. Genius, but why does nobody ever listen to me?!