To reply to Ronald,

It is really kind of useless to talk about "race" and IQ without  
taking into consideration the nurture question -- how are children in  
a given society trained from the time they're born? What kinds of  
skills are taught in school? What are the teaching and testing  
methods? What are the survival needs of a member of the society?

Jared Diamond, in "Collapse", points out that New Guineans display  
vastly greater intelligence in dealing with their environment than a  
Caucasian would. But I have little doubt that a Caucasian child  
raised by New Guineans would acquire those skills just as well.  
African Americans are at such a huge educational disadvantage in our  
society that I don't think anyone can make generalizations about  
their abilities on IQ tests. In any case, most African Americans are  
really of mixed heritage. So what does that do to the genetic argument?


Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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