What flight? (Thomas Sowell hits one again)

TownHall ^ | Nov 24, 2005 | Thomas Sowell

[Sonny M]

I read the Wall Street Journal article (unfortunatly I can't post it here).

It pretty much stated that whites were moving their kids out of schools because they felt their kids couldn't compete with asians and engaged in alot of nasty sterotypes.

Some of the parents had problems with the schools becoming to academic focused and emphasising math and science instead of "all around" learning.

[Qwertrew]

Sowell...what a voice of reason.

[AZRepublican]

I'd love to see a George Allen/Thomas Sowell ticket :-)

[GSlob]

Well, everyone has one's limits with regard to everything - be it the speed of running, the weight one could lift, acuity of hearing and vision, mental sharpness [IQ] and - necessarily derivative - ability to learn, the speed with which one learns, and the limits on one's capacity to learn as well. Thus everyone could indeed learn, but some will reach their limits at rudimentary reading and multiplication table within 6x6, while others would not reach theirs in MIT postdoctoral programs. And everything in between, of course. Thus the only reasonable solution would be rigorous streaming by capacity, with different curricula [and different schools] for each stream. Say, one could use the traditional set of 5 streams: retardees[IQ<=70], dullards [71<=IQ<=90], normals [91<=IQ<=110], brights [111<=IQ<=130] and the gifted [131<=IQ]. Transfer between adjacent streams ought to be made possible - both ways [one could drop down or - with effort - try to move up].

[AbeKrieger]

the only reasonable solution would be rigorous streaming by capacity

Sorry, but that's called racism in these horribly PC United States. And THAT is a fact. Remember, if we can't all achieve equal greatness then we will all be held down to equal mediocrity.

[wallace144]

This article reminded me of some movie trivia I read on IMDB.com about the movie Planet of the Apes.

"During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together--- gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn't required, it just naturally happened."

[GSlob]

Whatever it is called - the answer ought to be "so what?" - and I hope to see many private schools for the gifted.

[okie01]

If a farmer puts all of his livestock out into one pasture, at the end of the day he will find the sheep with the sheep, the goats with the goats, the pigs with the pigs, the cattle with the cattle.

A farmer is not surprised by this phenomenon. He considers it normal.

Only a liberal would be surprised...

[Cacique]

ping

[uncbob]

Well Murray in his book "The Bell Shaped Curve" states that on average Chinese( can't remember if it was Asians in general) have IQs 15 points higher than Caucasians

[AbeKrieger]

I hope to see many private schools for the gifted.

Ah, yes, More exclusionarey, racist schools. :) :) :)

[GSlob]

Yep. With [horribile dicti!] competitive admission by exams, no less.

[GSlob]

It's not THAT bad - they have only about 7 points advantage, not 15. 12 to 15 is the IQ advantage of Ashkenazi Jews.

[VOA]

I couldn't help but think that the white students are just the children
of geeky parents that suffered through high-school...
and now want to live vicariously through their children being rich, popular
and cool during their running of the high-school popularity gauntlet.

That sort of thing is difficult to do in a high-school in which most
of the kids (of any race) and their parents are more concerned about
academic achievement and honing analytical/scientific skills.

[DogBarkTree]

"I couldn't help but think that the white students are just the children
of geeky parents that suffered through high-school...
and now want to live vicariously through their children being rich, popular
and cool during their running of the high-school popularity gauntlet."
THANK YOU VOA! That is what this is about. It's not that Asians are smarter. They are however, MUCH better parents. Jewish parents hold the same kind of high standards for their kids.

[DogBarkTree]

This makes me sick. The weak parents feel it's more important that their coddled brats feel good about themselves than put in the work and study like the Asian kids.

[twntaipan]

The fact that people sort themselves out in many ways is not usually a big problem -- except to those people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.

That's the money sentence in the whole article.

[sine_nomine]

At Ivy League schools there are often the children of the wealthy gathered to network and mate. There is also a very high level of academic achievement. Those who want to be there apply themselves and find each class fascinating and challenging.

Then there are the community colleges where one student said, "I came here to get an easy degree." I told him, "Your associates degree will allow you to man the prestigious job of Second Window at McDonald's." If you are strong, you might do yardwork.

[uncbob]

It's not THAT bad - they have only about 7 points advantage, not 15. 12 to 15 is the IQ advantage of Ashkenazi Jews.

I knew about the Jews but the article was about the Asian/white

I went back and reread some of the book

Testing has basically two areas --scientific --verbal--. If you factor out the verbal IQ differences than the Asian is 8 to 13 points higher in the scientific area which will be 6 to 8 overall as you state

[x]

It pretty much stated that whites were moving their kids out of schools because they felt their kids couldn't compete with asians and engaged in alot of nasty sterotypes.

I didn't quite get that impression. The article is here.

It didn't sound like the parents whose kids left Monte Vista just wanted their children to socialize, just that they wanted a more congenial atmosphere -- a better fit for their children and their talents. What stood out in my mind were the Asian-American parents and graduates of the school who didn't like the atmosphere either, finding the competitive spirit driven by the newest arrivals.

It's not clear that ethnic groups going all out in competition with each other is the best recipe for keeping the country together. There is at least a little to be said for high school activities making the competition a bit less intense and bringing people of different groups closer together.