University professors have always complained that it seems that the students are no longer the same, and there were better students in the past. Well, it looks like they were right. A new study by Canadian scientists proves this.

Scientists from Canada’s Mount Royal University, University of British Columbia, and Western University have studied archival data on the IQ of university students tested on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale from 1939 to 2022 and found that the claim that people with higher education have a higher IQ is no longer true. The article about the study was accepted for publication in early January 2024.

According to the results of a meta-analysis of the data, over 80 years, students’ IQs have fallen from 119 to 102 points, which gives an IQ decline rate of about 0.2 points per year. 102 points is approximately the average IQ of the entire population, which is considered to be 100 points.

Scientists explain this data by saying that in the 30s and 50s of the last century, higher education was a privilege for a few, but now it is available to almost everyone, and many more students from different walks of life are studying at universities.

What conclusions can be drawn from the results. First, the researchers suggest that professors should revise the curriculum to simplify it, because modern students are no longer the geniuses they used to be. Secondly, employers should no longer assume that a job seeker with a university degree is smarter than someone without one. Third, students should realize that getting into a university is no longer about joining an elite group. Fourth, the myth of the brilliant minds of university graduates must be debunked. Fifth, the practice of selecting students for higher education based on the results of IQ tests is an unproven nonsense. Sixth, low IQ test scores should not be used to draw conclusions about people’s cognitive abilities, especially in clinical psychology.