Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

Post by justinpowers » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:01 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #108

dTal wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an excellent cautionary tale against lazily attributing politically inconvenient data to testing bias (which remains fashionable). It may seem like an easy way out, but it also offers an excuse to simply ignore the problem, which perpetuates it.

Now instead of lazily explaining differences with "there must be some testing bias, black kids are just as smart as white kids", we're lazily explaining differences with "it must be systemic oppression, black kids are more oppressed than white kids".

Post by ancode » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:12 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #108

dTal wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an excellent cautionary tale against lazily attributing politically inconvenient data to testing bias (which remains fashionable). It may seem like an easy way out, but it also offers an excuse to simply ignore the problem, which perpetuates it.

Now instead of lazily explaining differences with "there must be some testing bias, black kids are just as smart as white kids", we're lazily explaining differences with "it must be systemic oppression, black kids are more oppressed than white kids".

Post by ClumsyPilot » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

dfadsadsf wrote: post #86

tzs wrote: post #24

I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…

While it's uplifting story and I can easily believe that higher lead exposure for Black kids over white kids led to lower IQ results in tests in that specific case, there are no school districts in US with no gap between white and Black students. So far there has not been identified single parameter that explains White/Black gap and not for the lack of trying.

Post by Thetawaves » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:18 PM UTC

fer wrote: post #90

zepto wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not gonna lie, Do you normally? > a hobby for rich peopl Most flying is neither a hobby nor done by rich people.

Most flying is done in airliners (at least in passenger-miles), whose engines don't benefit from any lead. On the other hand, smaller, piston-engine aircrafts are overwhelmingly a hobby for relatively wealthy people, where leaded avgas is commonplace. This is just anecdotal, but in the aerodrome near where I live, I'd be surprised if less than 90% of the flights are leisure flights.

Post by selimthegrim » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:20 PM UTC

carapace wrote: post #116

tzs wrote: post #24

I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…

There used to be a whole stereotype around "lazy Southerners" that turned out to be a massive hookworm infestation! > ...victims succumbed to an insatiable exhaustion and an impenetrable haziness of the mind that some called stupidity. Adults neglected their fields and children grew pale and listless. Victims developed grossly distended bellies and “angel wings”—emaciated shoulder blades accentuated by hunching. All…