ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the feasibility of various public policy approaches for improving children's intelligence. It provides the propositions will be stated as an integrated theory of intelligence that embodies the conditions under which intelligence can be maximized. The chapter also discusses an ethical question not yet raised, which is how public policy sets priorities for maximizing intelligence. Intelligence is an important human attribute; it can be changed but malleability declines with age; there are ten major risk factors for intelligence, all of which involve family conditions and parent behavior; therefore the family is potentially the best agent of change. A major goal for prospective parents would be to delay childbirth until all education is completed, and another major goal would to maximize the rate of marriage before couples have children. The first and the strongest single factor is parent Intelligence Quotient (IQ): the higher parent IQ, the higher the child's IQ.
