[temphn]

No.

Speaking intuitively, if you can't judge someone's intelligence by their writing ability, what possible measure could you use? Grammatical deficiencies are symptoms of conceptual deficiencies.

Speaking technically, vocabulary tests are some of the most highly g-loaded batteries around:

  Different tests in a test battery may correlate with (or 
  "load onto") the g factor of the battery to different 
  degrees. These correlations are known as g loadings. An 
  individual test taker's g factor score can be estimated 
  using the loadings. Full-scale IQ scores from a test 
  battery will usually be highly correlated with g factor 
  scores. For example, the correlations between g factor 
  scores and full-scale IQ scores from Wechsler's tests 
  have been found to be greater than .95. The g loadings of 
  mental tests are always positive and range from slightly 
  greater than zero to slightly less than unity. Raven's 
  Progressive Matrices is among the tests with the highest 
  g loadings, around .80. Tests of vocabulary and general 
  information are also typically found to have high g 
  loadings.[10]

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_%28psychometrics%29

It's unclear to me what your underlying premises are. We will likely go in circles about whether you believe intelligence can be measured, whether it is meaningful, whether g is a measure of intelligence, whether it differs between individuals and groups, and so on. So let's agree to disagree.

Yet whatever your definition of intelligence, I believe it is hard to deny that the TSA is run by morons.

[dlss]

Grammatical deficiencies can be symptoms of conceptual deficiencies. They can also be symptomatic of getting overly excited, or of discussing very conceptually or emotionally difficult topics. They can be symptomatic of lying. They can also signify which social group you belong to, bro.

To give a more specific critique: vocabulary tests are done in a controlled environment, and hence can not be used to judge the correlation of vocabulary with IQ (or g, etc) in any other environment (unless of course someone has studied this problem and published results).

For example, many otherwise intelligent people exhibit vocabulary deficits, working memory deficits, and many other correlates with stupidity when talking to attractive members of the opposite gender. This doesn't mean that they have a low IQ or g-factor.

In this case, since this was a blog post written at what must have been a very difficult time in this poor TSA blogger's career, I don't think we can really say that their vocabulary is highly indicative of intelligence or g-factor.

That said, I do agree that the TSA is run by morons :p

[CWuestefeld]

Your explanation would suggest that the writer's cognitive abilities (whatever they might be) don't carry over into chaotic or stressful situations (i.e., he falls apart under pressure).

I would submit that this in itself ought to disqualify him from an important position in an agency as putatively critical as the TSA. People working there, especially those in positions of responsibility, ought to be able to work effectively under pressure.

[mikeash]

Why would a TSA blogger need to be able to work effectively under pressure?

[CWuestefeld]

I think the fact that we're all dissecting his work in order to criticize the Agency goes a long way to demonstrating that.

[mikeash]

How? There's no pressure in the sense being discussed here. He has plenty of time to figure out what to write and how to write it.

[dlss]

This. Also, anyone that thinks they don't fall apart under pressure is strongly encouraged to look up choking in the psychology literature and/or talk to attractive members of the opposite gender :p

[mikeash]

Some people can do pretty well. But you can't know until you've tested it, repeatedly.

[jorgeleo]

"I speak with an accent, I don't think with an accent" (bonus points for knowing the movie reference).

Grammatically correct phrases are proof of mastering the language, not of IQ. Specially if English is not your mother tongue.

[amirmc]

You're trying to equate doing a vocabulary test with writing for a public audience (and then using that writing as a proxy for judging the individual's intelligence).

Vocab tests and writing skills are not the same.

[ThomPete]

"if you can't judge someone's intelligence by their writing ability, what possible measure could you use?"

Who says you can judge it by their ability to write? That's assuming the conclusion and not very intelligent where I come from.

Also there are many people who write great but have nothing intelligent to say.

[tankenmate]

write well, even...

[derleth]

Grammatical deficiencies are symptoms of conceptual deficiencies.

Assuming you actually know what grammar is as distinct from usage, and don't try to claim someone is less intelligent just because they have a different style of usage from you.

For example, using a split infinitive is not indicative of anything other than the style that person prefers. Same with the passive voice more often than not (assuming the person doing the marking actually knows what the passive voice is, as most of the people who get aggrieved over it do not).

And, of course, if you think someone who speaks a dialect distinct from the prestige dialect must be less intelligent, that says terrible things about your own intellect.