31–40 of 154 posts
Biological explanations, while non-PC, do a rather good job of explaining the available evidence.
Biological explanations, while non-PC, do a rather good job of explaining the available evidence.
Not really - blacks from Africa and the Carribean do very well academically. It is only the American blacks that do poorly. They have the same biology and often a better starting line than the immigrants. Why is that?
Reminds me of a passage from Philip Greenspun's article, How to Become as Rich as Bill Gates, http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ : When I arrived at MIT as a first-year graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, I asked a professor for help with a research problem. He said "The reason that you've having trouble is that you don't know anything and you're not working very hard." A friend of mine was…
When people ask why he "wasted" all those years of a medical degree his response was simple:
"yeh it felt like a waste at first; especially as I knew for a large part of it I wouldnt ever be a doctor. But then I realised how far it was pushing me to my limits. I learnt much more about myself than I did about medicine"
He's in his mid twenties and easily the most successful person amongst his peers.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm interested in the academic gap between Ashkenazim and non-Jewish whites. Even if you're bad at distinguishing the two groups by naked eye, it still exists.
Of course it exists, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. This can be seen in the numbers at any top university, Noble prize winners, advancement in science, engineering, and and so on. That part isn't so interesting, what is interesting is how this elevated IQ came about. There are a few ideas of why this happened. The slower, unable to adapt, were killed off over thousands of years. When finding a mate, it was recomme…
Also, does your theory explain the high average IQ in e.g. South Korea?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My first boss was a black guy who graduated from Yale. It took 7 years before I was making more money than he did. I tried to get him to move to a new company, so I could get a signing bonus, and he could get a 30k raise, but had little interest. My father grew up as a poor white guy and had the same attitude. "I make a lot of money why strive for more?" The people I work with have this attitude that 300k/year is exp…
I've seen the claim that black academic test scores are consistently one standard deviation below the norm regardless of the test: sat, gre, lsat, mcat, erb, afqt, whatever. Always one standard deviation. Unfortunately, that lends weight to the genetic argument.
I would like comment on the economic and social aspects[1] of this article. .. * I) Underacheivement as a group Defense Mechanism :: Some social-groups actively encourage what I call "Perennial-Underacheivement". This is in my opinion based on a group defense mechanism[2]. This defense mechanism is to ensure the weak and sick and those unable to care for themselves are not left behind. They value support for the less…
tezza, a most profound statement this is: Some social-groups actively encourage what I call "Perennial-Underacheivement". This is in my opinion based on a group defense mechanism[2]. But I must really disagree with you wrt to African American youth addressed in the article and its subject research: they came from well off families that didn't need to hold their children back. What you're speaking of is something wide…
Here I would say that you are right and that the article focuses on Rich students. Why do they need to worry about group-care? I cannot offer a complete response. The reasons are too many and different for each person, region.
I only sought to comment on one ingredient of the complex reasons. The Defense Mechanism is a economic-social reason occasionally dressed up in race-division garments. I wantedto disrobe some of the arguments so that they can be addressed properly when they are a factor of underacheivement.
Superficially, it would seem like racial tension would be the concern that needed fixing. But if that tension is just a defense mechanism, then to spur acheivement the solution is to emphasise that your community will receive excellent care and no-one will be neglected.
This is a problem for sure. There is so much in this story I could comment on but I will just say that children definitely get an idea of what they are "supposed" to be from several different sources- parents, television, teachers, peers, etc. When you are young there is a sort of penalty for being different or unusual and children often end up gravitating toward some role at least some of the time. I think certain e…
I intuitively like the idea of the "supposed" but atleast in the west there seems to be a way of counteracting these pressures. It seems to me that "white" children can choose from a variety of roles: nerdy, athletic, artistic etc and although there are penalties associated with each role there are rewards as well and each role is deemed valid by society. However, the article seems to suggest a homogeneous "black" id…
It is in part do to the fact that whites comprise a much larger portion of the population (70+%) in most areas, but also they don't necessarily (need to) express themselves as "white" as their defining social trait, so they may choose something else as the major one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen the claim that black academic test scores are consistently one standard deviation below the norm regardless of the test: sat, gre, lsat, mcat, erb, afqt, whatever. Always one standard deviation. Unfortunately, that lends weight to the genetic argument.
People that are 1/4th black and identify themselves as black, have the same issue on standardized tests as people that are 3/4+% black. If DNA was the cause you would expect a non uniform distribution.
And I don't follow your premise that inherent differences wouldn't be quantitatively consistent. That's how it is with all the other measurable differences between races.
Reminds me of a passage from Philip Greenspun's article, How to Become as Rich as Bill Gates, http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ : When I arrived at MIT as a first-year graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, I asked a professor for help with a research problem. He said "The reason that you've having trouble is that you don't know anything and you're not working very hard." A friend of mine was…
If you're working too hard and bragging about it, good chance that you aren't performing terribly well and, certainly, rather inefficiently
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course it exists, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. This can be seen in the numbers at any top university, Noble prize winners, advancement in science, engineering, and and so on. That part isn't so interesting, what is interesting is how this elevated IQ came about. There are a few ideas of why this happened. The slower, unable to adapt, were killed off over thousands of years. When finding a mate, it was recomme…
So no chance for my kids because IQ is genetic? And no chance for US blacks? Also, does your theory explain the high average IQ in e.g. South Korea?
High IQ among East Asians is fascinating. The fact that they can migrate to the US, and perform as well or better than others, even if they are in the lower socioeconomic tier, tends to make me think that genetics does play a large part in IQ. I do not believe that it is the sole factor though.
This is my take on it. If your child has a really low IQ, then it will be a hard life for your child. If your child has an average or higher IQ, then IQ stops being a factor and attitude, values, and work ethic play a bigger role.