Stop Obsessing Over Race and IQ; It serves no purpose.

National Review ^ | 07/05/2017 | By John McWhorter

[Chewbarkah]

Thank you for posting these accurate observations. They illuminates my main critique of Mr. McWhorter’s essay. Like most people, he misses a major implication of “The Bell Curve”: Just as for “Whites”, “Asians”, etc., grouped IQ results for “Blacks” include people who are extremely intelligent; highly intelligent; average; a bit slow; and dumb as dirt. IQ results for the VAST MAJORITY of “Black” individuals overlap with other groups; there is no “Intelligence Gap” across entire populations. An “intelligence deficit” might be said to exist for individuals at the low end margin. Those at the low end of IQ, of all races, tend to come from and stay stuck in poor environments, and produce the crime and dysfunction statistics used by racists to condemn whole groups. Focusing on group results is a misuse of IQ testing, which should be a diagnostic tool for assessing individuals.

[CodeJockey]

Our culture, and society for that matter, are defined by the majority race of the population. We don’t have the culture of the native inhabitants of this country for obvious reasons.

Currently, around 13% of the total US population are African. Around 16% are of the Hispanic race.

No doubt as the Caucasian race decreases in numbers and African and Hispanic numbers increase our current culture will become more in line with what we see in predominately African and Hispanic nations. I believe in some ways we are seeing this now.

I don’t know where we’ll be in one hundred years, or more. But I suspect that if we don’t preserve the culture of the white race, we may at some point be another third world country. Look what happened to the island of Hispaniola. It’s culture changed because it’s majority inhabitants changed.

[dangerdoc]

Not without lowering standards. The average med student is about two standard deviation above the mean and the curriculum is set to push them to their limits.

[9YearLurker]

What a sad, contorted rationalization. The legal cudgel of “disparate impact” is sufficient reason to face unpopular facts.

[subterfuge]

Understood. I really wasn’t sure, and that’s good to hear.

My problem with doctors these days is they don’t volunteer information. They say, “you have problem X, I’m prescribing medicine Y. Any questions? Great, see you tomorrow.”

I try to remember to have my questions ready now.

I feel better now dd. Thanks.

[sargon]

Who do you want studying in Harvard medical?

How about "whoever can make the grade, regardless of skin color"?

[The Toll]

What are the odds John McWhorter does not have a daughter?

[Altura Ct.]

There is, however, a question that those claiming black people are genetically predisposed to have lower IQs than others fail to answer: What, precisely, would we gain from discussing this particular issue?

Maybe help in addressing the ever present, hand-wringing, document falsifying and affirmative action producing 'education gap'.

In addition how can we ever possibly fix something if we don't admit what the real problem is?

[mjp]

There is, however, a question that those claiming black people are genetically predisposed to have lower IQs than others fail to answer: What, precisely, would we gain from discussing this particular issue?

It's nature vs nurture vs personal decisions. Do blacks need extra help to survive in a free society or not? If so, them how much and what kind of help? There is no need for equality of opportunity and wealth transfers if they are not incompetent and helpless.

[Mr. Blond]

So we can stop basing social programs on fantasies of sameness, and develop solutions that address reality.

[binreadin]

OK—first of all I don't buy the validity of the IQ test as a valid measure of intelligence for anyone other than middle class people. Having worked and lived with a lot of Asians (overseas) and Blacks, I can tell you that just because they might not do well on an IQ test does not mean they are unintelligent. The test is just not measuring what THEY know and experience. Every hear of the techniques the prison population uses to survive and thrive? Many of these geniuses are Black, and very successful in their own pool. They have their own gifts and traditions, and it would be helpful if we could acknowledge those rather than trying to push everyone into the same square-peg hole.

[SpaceBar]

Making a cigarette lighter from pencil lead and a paperclip, or a shank from a melted down toothbrush ain’t exactly curved spacetime.

[CodeJockey]

Every hear of the techniques the prison population uses to survive and thrive? Many of these geniuses are Black

Somehow the "black geniuses in prison" reference reinforces the cognitive abilities argument.

[HamiltonJay]

Author lost me when he started quoting an article published in VOX... Those that have ever read anything published there will know why.

Want to cite a scientific Journal or published article, happy to entertain. What to cite an article, I don’t care who wrote it, that got published in Vox as authoritarian you have lost all credibility.

[cartan]

Nobody is “dwelling” on the IQ gap. The IQ gap is simply a fact, and this fact has to be acknowledged and taken into account whenever you want to think about the causes of observed race related differences, and possible remedies. If you stubbornly try to ignore the IQ gap because you think it is not nice to mention or even think about it, you will only end up with horrendously expensive social programs that achieve nothing at all, or even make things worse.

For an introduction to the facts relating to the IQ gap, and its consequences, I highly recommend this insightful and entertaining video series.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: What are the odds John McWhorter does not have a daughter?

For those who don;t know, John McWhorter is BLACK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McWhorter

[ladyjane]

when you start vacuuming up all the high IQ kids, and isolating them into a separate society...

It is very sad what the education system and especially colleges have done to bright blacks. As you say, they vacuum up all the bright kids. They accept minorities with SAT scores 150 points below other students and then throw them into the same classrooms with very bright kids who have gone to highly competitive prep schools. Many of the affirmative action kids can't compete and flunk out.

They had an aggressive affirmative action program at Berkeley and accepted minority students with relatively low SAT scores. The lower the SAT score, the higher the probability that student would flunk. Because of the high drop out and flunk rate they stopped accepting the low SAT students. When they did, they greatly improved their retention rate.

[ek_hornbeck]

The reason people on the Right do (and ought to) discuss race and IQ is because the Left maintains as dogma and against all evidence that every form of social dysfunction that we see among blacks is the fault of white racism, and that if only we implemented their program of Social Justice around the world, black achievement would be on par or even higher than that of other peoples.

Acknowledging that the peoples of the world differ in average abilities and temperament is the best possible antidote to utopian social engineering schemes and against the myth that oppression by whites explains all that's wrong among US "minorities" and in the Third World.

Unfortunately, some people fail to distinguish between collective intelligence/achievement and individual achievement: the fact that one group is on average more intelligent than another doesn't mean that any given individual from that group is more intelligent than the individual from another, just as the fact that some nations are more successful than others doesn't mean that any given citizen of the former is more successful than any given citizen of the latter. But the fact that people commit the fallacy of composition is no reason to make discussion of these things taboo.

[Hugin]

Certainly scientists will research the topic and will share their findings, which will always be available online for those interested.

That's not certain at all in the era of "settled science", "the debate is over", "hate speech" and the attempt to criminalize scientific opinions the left doesn't like.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Bump....