我们不能肯定什么是“智力”, 也不能肯定智力表达什么。但这一事实并不妨碍我们认为智力是一种非常有用的概念, 也不妨碍我们对智力测验给予相当程度的信赖。在一次智力测验中, 我们取样测验一个人解决各种各样难题和问题的能力。如果我们取了代表性样本, 就可以成功地预测此人在各种职业中将获得何种程度的成就。
英国议会1944年通过的教育法案使普及中等教育成为法律条文。除少数独立基金学校以外, 中等学校将对全民开放。由于全国中等学校的数目最多能容纳11岁以上儿童总数的25%左右, 所以只好做某种选拔。严格的学术性考试和测验被认为对那些在高质量小学就读和家庭学术气氛浓厚的儿童很有利。因此, 智力测验被设计出来, 以抵消这种狭隘的专业化教学内容, 其方法是引入一些并非以书本知识为基础的问题。换言之, 智力测验主要通过给儿童提供一些在其能力与理解力范围内的不同真实情景, 尝试评价儿童思考、推理、判断、分析和综合的总体能力。
The fact that we are not sure what "intelligence" is, nor what is passed on, does not prevent us from finding it a very useful working concept, and placing a certain amount of reliance on tests which measure it. In an intelligence test we take a sample of an individual's ability to solve puzzles and problems of various kinds, and if we have taken a representative sample, it will allow us to predict successfully the level of performance he will reach in a wide variety of occupations.
This became of particular importance when, as a result of the 1944 Education Act, secondary schooling for all became law, and grammar schools, with the exception of a small number of independent foundation schools, became available to the whole population. Since the number of grammar schools in the country could accommodate at most approximately 25 per cent of the total child population of eleven-plus, some kind of selection had to be made. Narrowly academic examinations and tests were felt, quite rightly, to be heavily weighted in favour of children who had had the advantage of highly-academic primary schools and academically biased homes. Intelligence tests were devised to counteract this narrow specialization, by introducing problems which were not based on specifically scholastically-acquired knowledge. The intelligence test is an attempt to assess the general ability of any child to think, reason, judge, analyze and synthesize by presenting him with situations, both verbal and practical, which are within his range of competence and understanding.
