How would understanding IQ better help America?
A. It becoming ever more clear that the combination of racial gaps in IQ and the IQ taboo acts as a black hole that sucks all the intelligence out of an institution. Racial gaps in achievement are the overwhelmingly dominant fact driving school performance, for instance, but nobody is allowed to mention the IQ gap among the races, so misbegotten nonsense rushes in. Last month, the California Superintendent of Schools announced that the cause of low black achievement was “absolutely, positively not genetic.” [Summit called to address racial disparities in academic performance, by Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 2007] Instead, white teachers imposing too much discipline on black youths “who learn at church that it’s good to clap, speak loudly and be a bit raucous” were too blame. Of course, the last thing public schools need is less discipline. Similarly, in 2001, President Bush and Senator Kennedy got together and passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which is certi
