This book is organized in nine parts, as follows. Part I, "Preface," includes an account of how the author went from the rather esoteric research on theoretical problems in serial rote learning to research on the inheritance of mental abilities and its implications for education. Part II, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?," is…

Neutral summary of "The Bell Curve" (Herrnstein and Murray) by a former student of Herrnstein. Focuses on the emergence of a cognitive elite in the United States; relationships between IQ and poverty, educational attainment, unemployment, divorce, illegitimacy, welfare dependency, parenting competence, criminal behaviors, and voting;…

This book includes nine essays. In the Introduction: "The Lingering Infatuation with IQ," the editors argue that since the IQ test has again risen as an instrument of conservative policy, the test and the arguments built around it must be reexamined. Noam Chomsky criticizes the well-known "Atlantic" article, "IQ" (September, 1971), in "The Fallacy…

"Psychological Assessment in Education and Social Class," a paper presented at the University of Missouri conference on the "Legal and Educational Consequences of the Intelligence Testing Movement: Handicapped and Minority Group Children," is provided. The historical origins of the scheme of norm-referenced testing and the evidence questioning its…

Pseudoscience, or the process of persuasion by establishing a pretense of scientific discovery, is examined in this book in an effort to dispel false notions about the validity of various measures of intelligence and the correlations of genetics to mental ability. The history and development of concepts related to hereditary intelligence and…

Areas of agreement and disagreement concerning intellectual developmental and the problems of mental retardation espoused by the author and by Uzgiris are discussed in this paper. The importance of environmental factors, along with the genetic and/or constitutional nature of the organism on which these environmental events impinge, is seen as…

Once again intelligence tests are being used as the major basis to establish the genetically determined limitations of minority and economically disadvantaged groups. By reviewing the arguments regarding the I.Q. test and the hereditability of intelligence, the author compares these with two sets of phenomena: the I.Q. test scores and the…

Contents of this compilation of testimony include: (1) statements by L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, professor of genetics, Stanford University; Richard A. Goldsby; Irving I. Gottesman, professor of psychology, University of Minnesota; Arthur R. Jensen; and Jane R. Mercer, associate professor of sociology, University of California, Riverside; (2) such…

This paper, focusing on differences between Caucasians and Negroes in the United States, summarizes from a "scientific standpoint" the main facts and theoretical issues involved in the study of human racial differences and behaviors. Three principles are considered to govern the orientation of this document: (1) objective research and…

This issue of the IRCD Bulletin is devoted to commentaries on an article by Arthur R. Jensen on the nature-nurture controversy in a recent number of "Harvard Educational Review." Contents of the Bulletin are comprised of the following: "Education, Ethnicity, Genetics and Intelligence; Jensenism: Another Excuse for Failure to…

Much of our thinking about contemporary social problems reflects tacit presuppositions regarding the operation of heredity and environment in human behavior. These beliefs have important implications for practical decisions. Advances in genetics, psychology, anthropology, and other disciplines have contributed much to a clarification of the…

Those of us who are committed to the pedagogical enterprise are called upon to re-examine, clarify, and perhaps justify the presuppositions, methods, and goals that provide the framework within which education and development are carried on. Recent publications by several writers have reintroduced notions that demand critical examination,…

It has been said that the heritability of learning ability or of intelligence is irrelevant to teachability. In support of this statement we see it pointed out that a child or a group of children show some response to training, and this is held up as evidence against the heritability of intelligence or learning ability. Most estimates of the…

Reviews the current theories concerning individual differences in cognitive functioning. While some argue that heredity places a genetic cap on intellectual development, others emphasize the dynamic interrelationship between cultural and environmental factors. Concludes that intelligence is more complex than the heredity advocates allow. (MJP)

Reviews criticism of Dunn's monograph on Hispanic-Anglo differences in IQ scores. Discusses the heritability and malleability of IQ, the reciprocal relationship between achievement and intelligence, negative effects of schooling for some caste-like minorities, and superior cognitive skills among balanced bilingual students. Contains 19 references.…