Task 2. What is a Koto? Part 2.
There are many factors to keep in mind about intelligence tests.
It is especially important to realize that intelligence tests measure how well you do at the time you take the test, but not how well you could do.
There are many reasons why a student might not do well on a test in school.
A person may do poorly on an intelligence test because he did not have a proper education and not because he is stupid.
Also some of the problems and questions of intelligence tests are not fair to certain groups of people.
For example, suppose that the problems and questions on a test are about ice cream cones, baseball, automobiles and hot dogs.
How would a student from another country where these things do not exist do on this test?
Could he do as well as an average American boy?
What if you took an intelligence test which ask questions about the hibachi, tempura and saki?
Any Japanese boy could answer these questions, but you probably couldn't.
Does this mean that you are not intelligent?
No matter how intelligent a person is, he will not be able to answer questions about things he has never seen or heard of.
When a test has a lot of unfair questions, do the results tell us much about a person's intelligence? Why not?
Some questions would be unfair to almost all American test takers.
How can you tell if a test question is unfair? Here is one to consider.