Should more intelligent people have kids with less intelligent ones?

[jay gw]

If intelligence is due to genetics and environment, should more intelligent individuals have children with less intelligent ones?

some points to consider:

* higher intelligence relates to more education
* education exposes people to new ideas about child raising
* education can mean higher incomes
* child's environment is affected by the education and income of the parent

Even if there's no genetic reason not to pursue having the child, the environment a more intelligent person wants their child exposed to can be very different than the one a less intelligent and educated person wants.

I've seen this in my family, a relative with college degree, pretty smart married this guy with much lower education. They disagreed on almost everything when it came to raising the kid, and frankly the guy with lower education basically has no clue on how to raise kids. She gets pretty much perpetually frustrated and angry with him.

[Eos of the Eons]

Quote:

She gets pretty much perpetually frustrated and angry with him.

I think you answered your own question. I question her intelligence for not finding out his ideas around raising kids before having them with him, but most people seem to forget about that untily they actually have the kids. Silly humans. What a great way to raise kids, fighting about how to do it.

Thusly, I'm not sure if this is an "intelligence" issue along the lines of a lesser educated person marrying a more educated person. I'm sure there are couples like that who agree on how to raise the kids.

There's also the issue of how to measure intelligence, unless you are just using education as an indicator. In that case, you just can't predict whether or not, or who among your kids, will do well in school and become better educated. So many variables, including home life, affect this to some degree.

So, in answer to your question, I figure people should just explore the issues of raising kids before they have them. If they don't agree at all, then maybe they shouldn't get married or something?

[Dr. Imago]

I think there is a more important concept involving "regression to the mean" that you are missing. It is likely that exceptionally intelligent people will have average intelligent kids as they would ones similar to them, even if they mated with a partner that was of equal intelligence. This is because there is a multitude of genetic interplay, and the genes likely selected for a certain level of intelligence in one person will not be matched in their partner. Furthermore, only half of the DNA is given to the progeny. So, to answer your question in a roundabout sort of way, I personally don't think it matters.

Additionally, there may be a more important social modeling going on that supervenes, or at least strongly contributes, in developing particular phenotypical attributes in that offspring. In other words, nurture may be equally important as nature. And, this may be primarily what is at play in your family's personal experience.

How the kids turn out, as well, is equally up to their social environment outside the family. For example, if you to raise them in a rich neighborhood with rich friends to play with, there will be certain expectations about what is "normal" for them.

Nature, nurture, external environment. No one is paramount. They all interplay with each other.

-Dr. Imago

[Last of the Fraggles]

Originally Posted by Mocha Cappuccino

If intelligence is due to genetics and environment, should more intelligent individuals have children with less intelligent ones?

some points to consider:

* higher intelligence relates to more education
* education exposes people to new ideas about child raising
* education can mean higher incomes
* child's environment is affected by the education and income of the parent

Even if there's no genetic reason not to pursue having the child, the environment a more intelligent person wants their child exposed to can be very different than the one a less intelligent and educated person wants.

I've seen this in my family, a relative with college degree, pretty smart married this guy with much lower education. They disagreed on almost everything when it came to raising the kid, and frankly the guy with lower education basically has no clue on how to raise kids. She gets pretty much perpetually frustrated and angry with him.

How does she/you define having 'no clue' on how to raise kids? Does that simply mean 'has ideas markedly different from my/her own?'

As far as I know there is no 'right' way to raise kids and there is no agreed upon way to measure the success of parents in raising a child.

It seems to me from this brief note that your 'intelligent' friend may not be as smart as they think they are.

[hcmom]

Originally Posted by Mocha Cappuccino

...a relative with college degree, pretty smart married this guy with much lower education. They disagreed on almost everything when it came to raising the kid, and frankly the guy with lower education basically has no clue on how to raise kids. She gets pretty much perpetually frustrated and angry with him.

I hope he gets pretty much perpetually frustrated with her, that she believes that because she has had more education, she is more intelligent.

My formal education stopped somewhere in my high school years, mostly because I was more intelligent than most of the teachers. (Yes, I was unfortunate enough to attend school in a really bad school district, but the teachers were supposed to have more education than I did...)

[joobz]

Originally Posted by Mocha Cappuccino

Even if there's no genetic reason not to pursue having the child, the environment a more intelligent person wants their child exposed to can be very different than the one a less intelligent and educated person wants.

that's true whether you are talking about religous differences in the couple, ethnic differences, or just dietary differences. If the couple doesn't come to some unified view as to how to raise a child, problems will arise.

From the example you gave, I would be most concerned that the child was raised in an environment where one parent treated the other as dumb because of a lack of education.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally Posted by Mocha Cappuccino

Even if there's no genetic reason not to pursue having the child, the environment a more intelligent person wants their child exposed to can be very different than the one a less intelligent and educated person wants.

Assuming the parents get along, I don't see the problem. Expose the kid to Mozart and Megadeath. Architectural engineering and brick laying. If the parents connected in some way enough to get married and have children, then they should be able to connect their high-brow and low-brow experiences.

Originally Posted by Mocha Cappuccino

I've seen this in my family, a relative with college degree, pretty smart married this guy with much lower education. They disagreed on almost everything when it came to raising the kid, and frankly the guy with lower education basically has no clue on how to raise kids. She gets pretty much perpetually frustrated and angry with him.

College degrees don’t necessarily help much with raising kids. A super-genius uber-nerd with five PhDs may have no idea how to even relate to a baby while a socially-adept sensitive caring high school drop out mother may do a super-duper job in that capacity.

[ExtremeSkeptic]

If the parents have different intelligence there will be lots of arguments. If a child is exposed to those complex scenarios then he's going to become more intelligent because he will start thinking by himself early on and not go outside to play with other kids. Eventually he realizes that he is more intelligent than his parents which boosts up his self-confidence and he feels that he can do anything in life.

But if both parents are of equal intelligence and they always agree with each other the child will always feel that his parents are intelligent and he isn't. His self-confidence will become lower which will stall his development. His goal is to make his parents proud of him which will make him do things he really doesn't want to do. He doesn't have enough time left to think by himself why those things are stupid in the first place. He thinks they are just normal because both parents just agreed on it.

The child should explore things on his own and not be controlled by his parents. Experiencing something good or bad early on is very important if you want the child to become as intelligent as possible. Most likely the child will get phobias but later when he's intelligent he will figure out how to remove them by himself anyway.

[andyandy]

Originally Posted by ExtremeSkeptic

If the parents have different intelligence there will be lots of arguments. If a child is exposed to those complex scenarios then he's going to become more intelligent because he will start thinking by himself early on and not go outside to play with other kids. Eventually he realizes that he is more intelligent than his parents which boosts up his self-confidence and he feels that he can do anything in life.

.

what do you mean by intelligence?

What degree of "difference" is required for arguments?

Why do you think that those with "different intelligence" will have "lots of arguments?"

Do you have any evidence to support this assertion?