Word: herrnsteins
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Given this context, one must question Herrnstein's motives for publishing his article in as widely-read a magazine as the Atlantic. He is undoubtedly aware that his ideas will be used by bigots who desire to repress blacks collectively. Worse, the article will probably provide educational policy makers with an excuse to offer an even shoddier product to blacks and Chicanos than they do now. Offering the article to the general public at this particular time seems almost intentionally designed to assist both processes...
...further challenges also cast doubt on Herrnstein's article. First, a system that rewards high I.Q. with success seems to be quite arbitrary. Performance, motivation and thoughtfulness are all probably more important that I.Q., and recognition of this would call for changes in society which Herrnstein ignores. Second, Herrnstein has not demonstrated satisfactorily that I.Q. is predominantly determined by genetics. Improvement of prenatal care in poor families gave an eight-point rise in I.Q. in one study, and other studies have shown I.Q. gains of 40 and 50 points after enriching the environment of poor children...
...issue at stake does not depend on any of these questions. If individuals of any skin color tended to have disproportionately high I.Q.'s and success in a universally upward-mobile society. I believe Herrnstein would not care. The phenomena would disturb only those who accepted racism, a belief that skin colors really are important...
...difficult, then, to see how the publication of any set of ideas in the Atlantic Monthly can be considered more dangerous than a decision that they're too dangerous to be printed. Therefore the content of Professor Herrnstein's article is irrelevant to a discussion of the propriety of the reaction to it. Likewise, questions of the relationship between research and policy are not relevant here. Professor Herrnstein is not under fire for his research, but for the publication of considered opinions in a national magazine. (Indeed one of the criticisms of Herrnstein's "shoddy scholarship" has been that...
...activities in response to Professor Herrnstein's article seem clearly to be coercive in intent and effect. Placards in and outside his classroom saying "Fight Racism--Fire Herrnstein" and "Pigeon Man", chanting outside his office, demonstrations demanding he be dismissed from the Faculty obviously are not meant to convince him or others of the mistakes in his theories. These tactics and others, such as interrupting his lectures with questions irrelevant to the subject matter under discusion--though within the rights of those engaging in them--undeniably create an atmosphere of tension in Herrnstein's teaching and personal life outside...