The Flynn Effect: Do People Get Smarter?

There has been a lot of debate going on in the world that humans are getting dumber. However, there is much evidence to prove this theory to be completely false. The problem with this debate from the beginning has been that it isn’t focused on one thing and people take different sides because the debate isn’t clear. When looking at standardized test scores, such as the ACT, as well as IQ scores humans have gotten overwhelmingly smarter. The contradicting argument that is seen is that the people of the Victorian era are more intelligent than the people of today. The question of whether we are getting dumber is proved false when looking at IQ scores and standardized test scores of the past compared to those of now, based on averages. There is actually even an effect known as the Flynn Effect that supports that people are getting smarter. “The Flynn Effect deals with the issue of how the general IQ scores of a population change over time” (Graham). This is an effect that seems to be widely accepted that IQ scores continue to rise over the years. With IQ scores rising over the years it helps to prove the point that we are getting smarter. It is not only the Flynn Effect that is saying we are getting smarter though. According to Dartmouth College’s Na Eun Oh, …show more content…
Compare the environment of now to the environments of the past. We have cars, computers, airplanes, all of technology, life expectancy has shot up, new medicine. So many more things have changed, we have advanced in almost every single aspect in life. It is very hard to find something that we haven’t advanced at some point over the last 100 years. People are finding new ways each and every day to be more creative, innovative, and to really make a difference in this world. Many people are going to college now, and by that they’re learning so much more than the people of the Victorian era ever could have