Word: herrnsteins
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This is a belated response to the letter from the Concerned Members of Dunster House of December 6, 1971, which you sent to the faculty signers of the "Herrnstein" statement, published in the Crimson of November 29. Though my name did not appear in the Crimson ad, I did indeed sign the statement. I asked to have my name added to the list when I heard about the ad, but by that time the statement was already in the press...
...happen to be critical of Herrnstein's article on many counts (as are at least some of the other signers of the statement). I challenge most of the article's premises: I disagree vehemently with the sociopolitical values that it reflects: I object to the policy implications to which it seems to point; and I feel that not enough was done to clarify the value premises and speculative nature of the article and to avoid its misuse by those who want to believe that Blacks are intellectually inferior...
...Professor Herrnstein's letter of December 20, 1971 (Crimson, January 20, 1972), he writes: "You will find that the high heritability of I.Q. is generally accepted by virtually all workers who are conversant with the data on I.Q. and with the technical concept of heritability. They argue about details, but not about the large points" (emphasis in original...
...particularly concerned about Mr. Herrnstein's article since it comes at a time when President Nixon is making a major offensive against working people through such acts as his veto of the comprehensive day care program, his new tax policy which shifts even more of the tax burden from large corporations to middle and lower income taxpayers; and of course, his wage-price controls. By giving the impression that we are moving toward "the removal of arbitrary barriers," Mr. Herrnstein's article can be used to justify the social crisis which now confronts us. Moreover, by applying the "scientific method...
...feel that a meritocracy is inevitable. Mr. Herrnstein's syllogism is based upon an assumption of a viciously competitive and heirarchical society. We need not accept the cynical point of view which says that naturally occuring human diversity leads to the extension of one person's power over another. It is possible to construct a society which emphasizes cooperation and no competition; a society which embraces human diversity, not as an opportunity for one group of men and women to oppress another group, but as a gift which can be used to the benefit of all. In such a society...