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It’s a sad fact that tall people make more money than their shorter colleagues. For men and women in the US and UK, for instance, Reuters reports that a “height advantage of four inches equated with a 10 percent increase in wages.” But two Princeton University researchers are taking that claim one step further: the pair has released a paper theorizing that the reason that tall people make more has nothing to do with image. Instead, they believe that tall people are simply smarter than their vertically-challenged peers. The paper attributes workplace success to proper nutrition given to kids in the first few years of their life, linking good nutrition to both future cognitive ability and height.
Speaking on behalf of short people everywhere, I would like to present a bit of historical evidence to cast some doubt on this theory:
- Art Garfunkel is a lot taller than Paul Simon
- George Washington was taller than Ben Franklin
- Andre the Giant was taller than Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking
- Daniel-san was taller than Mr. Miyagi in all of the Karate Kid movies.
- Also, I am at least one and a half inches taller than both of the Princeton researchers who wrote the study.
Click here to read more about the report.
At 5′2″, I’m going to side with Mangesh and his anecdata. Short people rock!
Also, did the researchers control for genetics? My parents (who are 5′10″ and 5′4″) could have fed me nothing but Miracle Gro as a kid and I still probably wouldn’t have topped 5′9″, so clearly at least some of my shortness wasn’t from malnutrition. Does that mean this study doesn’t apply to me?
posted by Mary on 8-28-2006 at 10:00 am
heh… it definitely doesn’t apply to you. If there’s any truth to the study, it seems like we should be referring to Kim Il Jung’s 2-inch platform shoes as artificial intelligence.
posted by Mangesh on 8-28-2006 at 10:22 am
Hmmmmm…. maybe the Napoleon complex needs to be renamed?
posted by David on 8-28-2006 at 10:45 am
Genetics aren’t the only thing involved - what about mental stimulation? People whose parents constantly read to them and got them to ask questions when they were young are often smart.
posted by Sammy on 8-28-2006 at 9:04 pm
Mother 178 IQ 5′3
Me 150 IQ 5′0″
Brother 148 IQ 5′8″
The point is?
I co ran my school by 9th Grade, in charge of Student Government and was the best student in over 2 counties. This is because tall people were left out and usually had little friends, they blossom later in life. That’s all.
posted by Kristin on 1-31-2008 at 9:02 am