By the Numbers - Aug. 3, 2015
0.7 %
and
5%
The percentage of U.S. Marine Corps officers who scored -- respectively -- above 150 in the General Classification Test (GCT) in 2014 and in 1980, according to a new study from the Brookings Institution and the National Bureau of Economic Research -- Military officer quality in the all-volunteer force. The GCT, required of all officers, "is scaled similarly to IQ tests, with 100 being the mean score, and has been shown to have a strong link between intelligence and military performance," according to a media summary (PDF) of the research.
According to the study, there were more than twice as many officers in the lowest scoring category ("closest to the cut-off for eligibility") in 2014, as opposed to 1980.
The researchers attribute this apparent decline in officer intelligence to the democratization of college over the past 35 years. "(A) college degree is required to become an officer, and there is now a much wider and diverse pool of college graduates for the military to choose from than there was in 1980." Although some have argued that the decline is likely "due to affirmative action and a more diverse applicant pool," the researchers did not find this to be true.
Looking at African-American officers, for example, the authors find a positive association between African-American officers and mean GCT score, perhaps because recruitment efforts by the Marine Corps have attracted minority officers who are more qualified than the typical college graduate. They find no evidence that the greater proportion of incoming Hispanic officers reduces the annual average GCT scores; Hispanics represent a small (5 percent) proportion of the decline while the other 95 percent is due to the expansion of the pool of non-Hispanic college students.
Interestingly, the researchers found that the downward trend among officers "runs counter to what has been found in the enlisted branch, where intelligence scores have been rising over the past several decades -- 60 percent of the enlisted Marines were found to have above average intelligence compared to the rest of the U.S., even at the height of the recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars."
0.7 %
and
5%
The percentage of U.S. Marine Corps officers who scored -- respectively -- above 150 in the General Classification Test (GCT) in 2014 and in 1980, according to a new study from the Brookings Institution and the National Bureau of Economic Research -- Military officer quality in the all-volunteer force. The GCT, required of all officers, "is scaled similarly to IQ tests, with 100 being the mean score, and has been shown to have a strong link between intelligence and military performance," according to a media summary (PDF) of the research.
According to the study, there were more than twice as many officers in the lowest scoring category ("closest to the cut-off for eligibility") in 2014, as opposed to 1980.
The researchers attribute this apparent decline in officer intelligence to the democratization of college over the past 35 years. "(A) college degree is required to become an officer, and there is now a much wider and diverse pool of college graduates for the military to choose from than there was in 1980." Although some have argued that the decline is likely "due to affirmative action and a more diverse applicant pool," the researchers did not find this to be true.
Looking at African-American officers, for example, the authors find a positive association between African-American officers and mean GCT score, perhaps because recruitment efforts by the Marine Corps have attracted minority officers who are more qualified than the typical college graduate. They find no evidence that the greater proportion of incoming Hispanic officers reduces the annual average GCT scores; Hispanics represent a small (5 percent) proportion of the decline while the other 95 percent is due to the expansion of the pool of non-Hispanic college students.
Interestingly, the researchers found that the downward trend among officers "runs counter to what has been found in the enlisted branch, where intelligence scores have been rising over the past several decades -- 60 percent of the enlisted Marines were found to have above average intelligence compared to the rest of the U.S., even at the height of the recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars."