Practical implications for society at large:
No easy solutions have been found by anyone to lower IQ test score gaps. Although certain schools – both charter schools and public schools – with high expectations and high support have achieved amazing results in raising school-age minority test scores, other charter and public schools without such support have performed miserably. Given the need for highly dedicated, highly capable teachers and administrators, heavy parent involvement, immersive environments and major financial resources, the task of improving education, though essential, will take time.
What we can do is work for improvements for everybody in the United States – not only in schooling, but also in lessening pollution, in the physical environment, in basic public health facilities and health services, and, where it exists, in lessening discrimination and stereotyping. This also will not be easy, but progress can be made.
Practical implications for the individual:
In life, natural abilities and endowments count, but not exclusively. How hard one works is equally or even more important. With diligent study and practice, each individual can improve his or her applied intelligence and other abilities. Angela Duckworth’s book Grit (Source 1142) documents how a passion for excellence, coupled with thoughtful and sustained practice, can lead to skill, achievement, and satisfaction.
We start out with a certain mental and physical capacity. We will become better, and so will society, when we make the most of it.
© David May, August 2019, April 2025. All rights reserved; this work may be copied only for non-commercial use with attribution.
- Angela Duckworth, Grit – The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Simon & Shuster, 2016 ↩︎