I think that while “skin color” (and all the genetics lying under it) can identify a “grouping”, but the fact that we see certain “average” academic differences between groups is I think a residual of culture - long term and short term - not genes, can and do play a role in developing one’s intelligence.
The brain is plastic in that it is not rigid and fixed in terms of its potential. It is like clay; what it is capable of can be molded. It’s structure and operation is not a definition of its potential, they are the physical things designed to be put to use, to achieve any and all tasks we try to achieve. They merely wait our commands, our exercising their ability to obtain any development of the mind that we seek. Merely the fact that someone has only achieved X instead of Y is not a statement that the potential to achieve X was not there. Will, desire, value judgements, stamina, perseverance and cultural backing for those things within and beyond family all play a role in what intellectual development anyone seeks. There is a ton of dynamics that goes on, and I think (a) the genes have done their job, but (b) making use of what the genes have provided is up to the individual.
No. I don’t believe in race. I do believe in culture.
It is hard to explain that the “black race” is incapable of brilliant intelligence when we have great examples of brilliant intelligence in individuals like Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder and dozens of others. The culture their parents supplied and the culture they absorbed - instead of rejecting - in this society, led them to take on the challenge of developing their intelligence. They were obviously not stifled by their genes.
“but the fact that we see certain “average” academic differences between groups is I think a residual of culture “
And what is culture and where does it come from?