The Public Policy

...Particularly today, when it has become popular in many circles to insist that social and economic distinctions are "wrong," any suggestion that such distinctions may reflect differences in ability rather than discrimination will be met with a stream of impassioned and self-righteous rhetoric, prominently featuring the word "racism...

...and the type of job one holds--with the most talented individuals in the professions and the lowest in unskilled labor...

...old people...

...The reaction to "I.Q" was swift and predictable...

...In a pure meritocracy, with discrimination eliminated and all social and physical environmental factors somehow "equal," it is difficult to see how the genetic stratification predicted by Herrnstein can be avoided...

...Chicanos are exploited...

...Conversely, studies of sets of foster children raised in the same homes showed only a 24 percent correlation in intelligence...

...Intelligence, they say, is undefinable, and attempting to measure it leads only to pernicious and invalid distinctions...

...Jr...

...most of us, I think, would not...

...A group of blacks led by a latter-day Joan of Arc, Miss Joanne Chesimard, struggled lately for the rights of blacks by gut-shooting white policemen...

...While only an expert in regression analysis can comment on the validity of the 80 percent figure, it is clear from this data t h a t heredity is a very significant factor indeed...

...and the faith in man's ability to control any facet of a stubbornly complex universe...

...I pine for a golden futClre in which Americans of e~ery race'/ creed, and nationality, standing together as'~brothers, will be free to berate and revile one another without fear or favor...

...The editors of The Atlantic spoke precisely to this point in their introduction to "IQ...

...But which minorities...

...The controversy over the nature of human intelligence stretches from the Social Darwinists of the nineteenth century to the environmentalists and behaviorists who have held the field in our own era...

...Herrnstein cited data to indicate that human intelligence depended about 80 percent on hereditary influences and about 20 percent on environmental ones, and argued t h a t as social and physical environmental factors became more equal, the influence of heredity on intelligence would become even more pronounced...

...Capano down the hall tells me repulsive jokes about Italians...

...R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr...

...Had she acted yesterday, a new bogus minority, Czechoslovak-American underground film-makers, would be filling the streets today, demanding counterliberation from armed Sapphoids...

...in a popular rather than an academic journal...

...SIMONDS (continued from page 26) pancake-eating youth)is hidden beneath the dust jacket from The Story of O. Mr...

...Indeed, it seems quite unlikely that evolution magically yielded precisely equal results ~in this area...

...hyphenate Americans who trace themselves to every backwater in your stamp album...

...Re subject of intelligence is an [important, albeit painful, social] issue--important because social legislation must come to terms with actual human potentialities, painful because the actualities are sometimes not what we vainly wish...

...So perhaps like Gatsby, Mr...

...If this is true, are there differences in (continued on page 29) 4 The Alternative October 1973 RUSTHOVEN (continued from page 4) hereditary intelligence linked to race...

...Nixon has held his last party...

...America's nice, quiet men are up in arms over the slur...

...Within that context, one can safely generalize t h a t in western civilization, intelligence involves logical ability, the ability to deal with abstracts, and facility of communication...

...It follows that the results of such tests can be very significant indeed...

...the list grows daily, and the 1976 Democratic National Convention will have to be held at Watkins Glen, New York...

...The point is that in our complex and technological civilization, intelligence as defined above is the most scarce and vital commodity necessary to perpetuate and improve our way of life...

...performance increases 1 point...

...Many of Herrnstein's colleagues protested this treatment as a violation of academic freedom...

...The two most important are these: first, what do we know about the nature of human intelligence...

...All this, of course, is neither new nor the Nature of Intelligence surprising...

...Pilsudski, with attribution...

...Accordingly, I.Q...

...Perkins was a wise judge of fiction and I have no doubt were he alive today he would apply the same description to Watergate...

...Even Washington demands a little prudence, a touch of forbearance, a whiff of principle...

...The Alternative October 1973 29...

...Indeed, without such a context, the word "intelligence" ceases to have any real meaning...

...No sensitive man wants to perpetuate discrimination...

...Italian-Americans, who had a good thing going in the media until a black man, resentful of competition in the limited indignation market, gunned down their Moses...

...tests...

...controversy, and much more definitive research is needed before one could hazard a conclusion...

...Any person wishing to speak or act in behalf of an aggrieved minority must be required to obtain a license and to remove all of his, her, or its clothing (to prevent the concealment of lethal weapons...

...And how many...

...leaflets and petitions floated about demanding his dismissal and the banning of his "racist" teachings...

...And is there any end to rights...

...Our options are more limited and less pleasant than many would like to believe...

...The list is endless: American aborigines, who have elevated themselves from the savagery of setting fire to white farmers to the sophistication of setting fire to other aborigines' house trailers...

...no fair man believes in unequal opportunity...

...And in the background, an emotional and unenlightening debate proceeded on the substance of the article itself...

...Please, what is fifteen percent of four-hundred-years-of-slaveryand-oppression...

...With this morning's milk come the tidings that gay liberation-has been carried to its logical extreme by the late Mr...

...Richard Herrnstein and In September, 1971, The Atlantic published an article by Professor Richard Herrnstein of Harvard University, entitled "I.Q...

...Whether these particular qualities are more worthy of emphasis in some ultimate sense than any others is both irrelevant and unanswerable (although a good historical case can be made that these three qualities of intelligence have made the most significant contributions in man's efforts to deal with his environment...

...Others agreed in part, but criticized the professor for publishing "I.Q...

...It is known t h a t intelligence levels correlate highly between parents and their children, but this fails to separate the influences of heritability and environment...

...tests than whites...

...young people...

...If heredity is the most important factor, then we will not be able to eliminate social and economic distinctions merely by changing environments and equalizing opportunity (which are difficult propositions in themselves...

...lll:~.ll%" l i A I l i l LIT, IT WILL, POSITIVELY ~'ure . ~ ' e r v o u s XeRdnrhe In ,5 mlnule...

...Shockley also cites studies which indicate that certain genes distinctive to whites seem to affect performance on intelligence tests in proportion to their appearance in the genetic make-up of racially mixed populations...

...Accordingly, Herrnstein goes on to cite the work of Berkeley psychologist Arthur Jensen, among others, who discovered evidence indicating t h a t intelligence depends about 80 percent on genetic factors...

...Herrnstein was immediately branded a careless scholar and/or a racist by the legions who found his ideas either wrong or merely unpalata b l e At Harvard, he became for a time the special target of the leaders of the new wave: his classes were picketed and his lectures heckled...

...But then will Mr~ Capano relay the story unaltered to Mr...

...Then there is the problem of minorities overreacting...

...Many agree with Harvard psychologist Jeremy Kagan, who argues t h a t I.Q...

...Dare I tell him a repulsive joke about Italians...

...o{I'~ F:h'~'tri~" /|:lir Brli~,b Ills...

...overtip him...

...The real explanation for the violent reaction to "IQ...

...Within limits, these qualities can be measured...

...Some years ago a Miss Valerie Solanas struck a blow for the fancied rights of her sex by shooting and seriously wounding Mr...

...Those policemen, though not yet certified as an aggrieved minority, retaliated by stifling Miss Chesimard and her companions in jail, pending what promises to be a most interesting trial in the course of which the defense will remind us that while shooting policemen is perhaps unwise, nevertheless et cetera...

...D o a n e , b | l e ~ e ' t v h i , - - = n a a c h l n e ( ' o . , N. 15...

...But one should at least face the possibility that in the process of evolution, some differences may have developed among races in the make-up of the most complicated organ in the human body...

...No one can say absolutely t h a t "intelligence is 'x', and we can measure it precisely with test 'y...

...Nixon should have been treated better, though he does not deserve it...

...tests are significant not as indicators of the basic "worth" of any individual, but rather as measures of a person's ability to think in the ways most valued by our civilization...

...The neighbors all agree that Mr...

...As a national pastime, mutual antagonism is certainly pceferable to the mass calisthenics and folk-dancing beloved of totalitarian regimes...

...within the average set of twins...

...Gatsby, who always held himself aloof from the congeries of slobs who swarmed through his mansion, was eventually destroyed by them, by the powers he set in motion while pursuing his dream, and by the conventionalities of his betters...

...Or Shall I make them Poles...

...Corll was a "nice, quiet man...

...lies in its refutation of two of the dearest tenets of western liberal philosophy: the belief that men are equal not onlybefore God and the law, but also substantively...

...Maxwell Perkins described Gatsby's gorgeous fling as a "pathetic episode" conveying "a sense of eternity...

...Each such spokesperson must be transported, at government expense, to India, the Rub AIKhali, or Greenwich Village--all places where naked fanatics uttering strange cries are treated with respect, even reverence...

...urnings of every inclination...

...Accordingly, he concluded, one could expect t h a t as society moved closer to becoming a meritocracy, social stratification would become more, not less, rigid---or in short, t h a t "greater wealth, health, freedom, fairness and educational opportunity are not going to give us the egalitarian society of our philosophical heritage...

...If human differences reflect nature more than nurture, then the elimination of those differences is unlikely, and any attempt to do so must necessarily involve public policies and controls totally at conflict with a heritage rooted in individualism and personal freedom...

...tests merely measure the degree of one's socialization into middle-class, white American values...

...Nobel-prize winning physicist William Shock!ey of Star~.ord has vociferously argued that such differences do exist, and it is certainly established that blacks score an average of 15 points lower on LQ...

...Quite simply, "IQ...

...If the latter is our choice, then, we must also learn that the continued veneration of vague, universal egalitarianism is an indulgence we cannot afford...

...It is unfortunate that any discussion of this topic must take place in such a context, because Herrnstein's article raises serious questions which deserve the most dispassionate and reflective consideration possible...

...and on several occasions he was prevented from speaking at meetings where he attempted to explain his conclusions to students...

...It is these results t h a t Herrnstein attempts to deal with...

...and second, what are the implications of that knowledge for public policy...

...It is clear, however, that Herrnstein's predictions cannot be wished away...

...But this increasingly popular position misses the point...

...If we are to survive as a nation, steps must be taken now...

...Intelligence, like freedom, is not an abstract concept---it is firmly rooted in society and culture, and is no less valid or useful because of that...

...do I dare to eat a peach...

...q4nke l h l " I | l i l r (~l'oVv | , o i l K I n d (llol~lly ! I Honey r r l u r n i . d i f n o t ms rrprrs4rnted...

...When I watch the parade of sobered assistant presidents filing before Senator Ervin's committee, and when I listen to their melange of lies, revelation, and gas, I am reminded of Nick Carraway's declaration to Gatsby: "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together...

...In a certain abstract sense, this is true...

...Obviously, this is the most sensitive aspect of the entire I.Q...

...The first question, of course, immediately raises the issue of what one means by intelligence in the first place...

...Do not mistake me: I am a thorough believer in minority rights...

...u r e l l l l l o u , llra4Rche I n ~ mlnulem ! : ~ure .~*.tlrltlRllt Ill ,~ n t l l l i a t t ~ f I C'ur4- F , i l l l n l l l a l r i i l l d Baldn~ssll [ ' u r r l ) ~ n i l r l i l T H i i d I ) l l 4 - s . c . o f I h * . ~ r ! | I ' r o n i p l l y A r r * . ~ l l ' r i . m i l t t l r e (;rayness...

...For each 1 percent of such genes which appear in blacks, says Shockley, I.Q...

...The black waiter has spilled bearnaise sauce on my spats...

...First, he notes t h a t there is a direct correlation between the level of I.Q...

...For example, a study of 122 sets of identical twins, separated from birth and raised in vastly different environments, revealed an 85 percent correlation in IQ...

...Regai~d|ess of the question of racial linkage, however, the implications Of Herrnstein's conclusions for public policy are immense...

...But all sensitive, fair, and reflective men should recognize that the elimination of these evils will not yield a society of equally intelligent people doing equally fulfilling tasks for equally high rewards...

...Andy Warhol...

...Certainly, we are afflicted with bogus minorities--for instance, women, a species so numerous and so unfettered as to come near constituting a public nuisance...

...In short, in our society economic success is highly correlated with intelligence as measured by I.Q...

...Only then will the rest of us-whitei black, brown, yellow, red, lavender, Catholic, Jew, Separate Baptist, Muslim (all flavors), straight, crooked, gay, solemn--be able to go about our lawful business...

...l)*s~,hxt~.l.y Ciit~| ?ll~" l t i i f l " I l l l l t * l i f l i l ~ i * l I [ F ~ ' l l l %%|ti1"11 b i l l ' Ill'!ll R ~lPtl*lll t u l f f r l . r fur ~l'ltrl...

...Here the evidence is spotty...

...touched on one of the most emotional and potentially explosive issues in contemporary American public discourse...

...Second, Herrnstein treats the issue of whether heredity or environment is the most significant factor in determining I.Q...

...Dean Corll of Houston, Texas, who spiced his deviant activities with a refreshingly direct approach to the important question of population control...

...Indeed, whatever steps are taken in that direction will merely increase the role of heredity in determining what distinctions do exist...

...Some, no doubt, would welcome that attempt anyway...

...shall I undertip him...

...But there is little to support these beliefs, and much evidence to the contrary...

...Still others, especially junior faculty, thought Herrnstein deserved everything he got...