MonicaB92 t1_ixgysqo wrote on November 23, 2022 at 10:58 AM

Reply to comment by LastInALongChain in ‘Without enough Latvians, we won’t be Latvia’: eastern Europe’s shrinking population | Latvia’s population is 30% smaller than it was in 1990 and by 2050 numbers will be in decline in over half of Europe’s 52 countries. by mossadnik

A) you will find Figure 1 in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353203996_Not_by_g_alone_The_benefits_of_a_college_education_among_individuals_with_low_levels_of_general_cognitive_ability relevant.

Average IQ of 108.3 (95% CI 106.9-109.7) for the 442 individuals with a graduate or professional degree.

LastInALongChain t1_ixhrp6i wrote on November 23, 2022 at 3:23 PM

I don't understand the point you're trying to make?

I agree completely, personality factors makes a way bigger impact than IQ in most situations. My concern is that PhD's are just poorly trained over 6 years, and the same outcome could be done faster, more effectively in 2 years. Most schools just have terrible methodology, and rely on personality traits to make up the difference in outcome, while letting people without the right composition of personality drop out. If anything this supports my point.

To clarify, I'm strongly anti college, anti 10 years of education that is mostly forgotten or useless. Not making an argument about intelligence. Higher education is just a parasite on society at this point.

MonicaB92 t1_ixi4zdi wrote on November 23, 2022 at 4:51 PM

>the point you're trying to make?

you had mentioned "degree inflation" and I have quantified this with quite a new (2021) reasearch. Before seeing that, and NLSY97 based research, I have imagined graduate degrees to be more selective.

LastInALongChain t1_ixi6sgq wrote on November 23, 2022 at 5:03 PM

Grad studies are selective, they just select based on conscientiousness. Look up big 5 personality, its the gold standard for personality research and life outcome prediction. Conscientiousness controls the degree people are willing to work. A person with a score reaching the extremes of conscientiousness in the population will just work 16 hours a day and sleep 8 hours so they can get right back to working. Conscientiousness is the biggest predictor of academic and workplace success. IQ is good, but it doesn't surprise me that its not the be all end all.

In my experience you can boil doctoral students that succeed to be one of: hard working, anxious, or successfully creative.

Degree inflation is just a different thing altogether though. Its schools jamming people through higher studies for more money, while reducing the level of training and oversight. Which leads to people who can't answer the question "How would you go about researching a completely new topic/field you have no experience in, to solve a particular question/reach a particular goal?"

I've asked that question to dozens of professors, and only like 3-4 had a good answer with a philosophy and methodology.