Yes, and all of the politically correct people in the U.S. will yammer endlessly about how evil the Thai government is for taking IQ seriously.

I remember statements made in 1995 by Chinese officials about improving their countrymens' IQ and all of the yammering it produced amoung the chattering classes in the U.S. As a result of all of this yammering, the Chinese stopped making such public statements and got on with doing whatever they planned to do in this area. I suspect the Thais will do the same.

The West will rant and rave about this stuff. The Asians with just do it.

Yeah, evil US. Yet there are more poor Chinese improving their lives here than they ever could in their native land.

Well, a lot of Chinese make good lives here outside of science. Inside of science they (in my experience) express contempt for the religious footstep on science (ID/creationism) and exteme frustration at the PC-left much larger footstep on science.

In fact, of the several native chinese scientists I have known (born and educated in China) one dropped out of science completely and another two decided to move back to China.

>>In fact, of the several native chinese scientists I have known (born and educated in China) one dropped out of science completely and another two decided to move back to China.

It's up to 80% now, I've heard, who will be returning after they graduate from their study in the US. 20 or so years ago it was about 33%.

>>I remember statements made in 1995 by Chinese officials about improving their countrymens' IQ and all of the yammering it produced amoung the chattering classes in the U.S.

When was this and what was said?

JuJuby,

The two who returned to China were educated in China and only came here to do post-docs and, hopefully, get a good job in an American company. They eventually decided to return to China despite the lower pay they would recieve and despite the fact that they had good jobs here.

It goes to show that pay ain't everything; if you can't do the work you love, no amount of dollars can overcome the frustration you feel.

The Thais don't have much of a concept of egalitarianism. Maybe it's connected to the belief in karma, where one guy can definitely be born with superior baggage to the next. So there's no major hangup in discussing racial differences, IQ differences, gender differences, etc.

It can get a bit ridiculous, though. I've heard Thai sports commentators make the following remarks:

"White people are too hot-tempered" (explaining why a Chinese guy beat a "farang" in a ping-pong match).

"That player looks like a man" (at a women's volleyball match).

"That's the first time Mike Tyson was beaten by a white man" (the FIRST thing that came out of the commentator's mouth after Tyson threw in the towel in his most recent match).

Imagine the uproar if you heard this stuff on American TV.

While I'm not completely convinced on the IQ debate, I'm all for addressing "disease, heavy-metal poisoning and malnutrition". My worry is if IQ scores don't go up after intervention. Will they abandon their programs? I'll just assume that officials also know that improving quality of life, increasing access to resources and information, and reforming the education system will also be needed.