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I think that the strength of point b) is the point that a lot of people question. I think for people like me who question the SES - intelligence link, the point of testing is to provide any opportunity for bright people who have lower SES to have a shot, which they would be otherwise denied due to their status.

If anything, testing is one of the things that can help create that link between SES and intelligence.

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Right, it's only a correlation, not a guarantee. And people who don't end up part of the correlation have maybe their best shot of becoming successful (assuming they pursue a career requiring a degree) via test scores. Anything else likely has a much stronger correlation with SES or might be very noisy: extracurriculars require money and parental involvement, high school grades can be worthless depending on the school, filtering by school rules out a lot of poor people, etc.

I think the OP has the arrow of causation pointing the other way from what you suggest: that is to say that higher intelligence leads to higher SES because knowledge work tends to be higher SES and those with higher intelligence are more likely to be able to find employment in knowledge work professions.

That is probably predicated on the existence of at least some social mobility though.

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