Word: herrnsteins
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...November 27 issue of The Crimson, under the title "The Ersatz Controversy," Richard Herrnstein has once again repeated the litany of "I.Q.'s substantial heritability" and "estimates of I.Q.'s genetic ingredient" that has become such a part of the popular journalism on this issue. In this particular piece Herrnstein tells us that he knows of "no published technical refutation, nor even of any major criticism, by a quantitative geneticist" of I.Q.'s substantial heritability. Since his argument about genetics and social class is deeply rooted in his repeated assertion that I.Q. is highly heritable (80 per cent...
...Herrnstein is engaged in a bit of sleight-of-hand, in which he over and over again tried to dazzle us with that shining crystal "fact" of "high heritability of I.Q.," hypnotizing us into accepting his argument. I want, briefly, to break the spell by showing that the "high heritability of I.Q.," is a non-fact, at least in the context of discussion of social class, and that indeed such phrases as "I.Q.'s substantial heritability" or "the heritability of I.Q. is 80 per cent," despite their appearance as English, are actually scientifically meaningless garbage which have not been refuted...
...really wants to win adherents to his theory of genetic inequality, Prof. R.J. Herrnstein would do well to answer his most competent critics, rather than the oversimplifications and innacuracies he selects for attack in his Crimson article of Nov. 27. That article is addressed to almost every peripheral issue, but is notably barren of cogent argument addressed to the central point: are differences between human beings caused primarily by environment, or primarily by heredity...
...Herrnstein shows that I.Q. scores correlate with achievement, but provides no clue as to what leads a person to perform well on an I.Q. test. Encouraging influences from family, friends and teachers might be the major factor, for all Herrnstein says...
...Herrnstein further says I.Q. is substantially "heritable," but cites no evidence that distinguishes between inborn heritability on the one hand, and the passing on of family traits by training, on the other. A father with a Ph.D. will naturally encourage his child to read; one who never graduated from high school might even do the opposite. The two widely varying degrees of encouragement will surely show up on any I.Q. test, but does this mean the different scores were genetically determined? Surely not. Herrnstein dodges the issue completely...