I definitely question the legitimacy of reducing human qualities like intelligence down to a single number or composite score. However, IQ was not initially in

I definitely question the legitimacy of reducing human qualities like intelligence down to a single number or composite score. However, IQ was not initially invented for bigot reasons. IQ may have been used by bigots, but the initial inception of IQ was for a very legitimate purpose. My understanding is the Binet created the first IQ tests because as French society was rapidly industrializing, more rural people were moving to cities. Some of the children of these rural people had ages that were unknown as were their educational abilities. So, the tests were basically used to calculate the "mental age" of these children so that the children could be appropriately placed in the correct classrooms. For example, an 9 year old child with a mental age of 6 would more than likely not benefit from being thrown into the same classroom as other 9 year olds. Likewise, a 6 year old child with the mental age of 12 might not benefit from being in a classroom with other 6 year olds.