Kavita is a counsellor in a government school in a Jharkhand village. A private agency gave the Class 6 pupils a reasoning test bought from abroad and translated into Hindi. Its items asked about escalators, credit cards, snowfall and supermarket shelves, and each child's score was compared with figures from children of that country. Most pupils scored far below those figures. One of them, Birsa, keeps the accounts of his mother's vegetable stall in his head and built a bamboo water-wheel for the school garden. After the results, the principal seated the low scorers on separate benches, and several families stopped paying for their extra tuition, saying it would be wasted.
Which ill-effect of intelligence testing by naive testers do the principal's and the families' own actions after the results show?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → The tests may invite discriminating practices from parents, teachers and elders in the society.
Option (1) The tests may invite discriminating practices from parents, teachers and elders in the society. — Correct. Here adults treat the low scorers unequally because of one score. The principal seats them apart and families stop their tuition. Such unequal treatment by parents, teachers and elders is a discriminating practice that the test invited.
Option (2) Poor performance on a test may attach a stigma to children and adversely affect their self-respect. — Incorrect. Stigma is the mark of failure a low score puts on a child. It then lowers the child's own performance and self-respect. It describes what happens to the child.
Option (3) A test biased in favour of the middle class may underestimate the IQ of disadvantaged children. — Incorrect. This point is about the score itself coming out too low for children from disadvantaged sections. It explains a low score.
Option (4) Intelligence tests do not capture creative potentialities and the practical side of intelligence. — Incorrect. This limitation says the tests miss creativity and practical skills. It is about what a test measures.
NCERT (2026-27): “Some Misuses of Intelligence Tests “Poor performance on a test may attach a stigma to children and thereby adversely affect their performance and self-respect. The tests may invite discriminating practices from parents, teachers and elders in the society. …” |