Educability-and-Group-Differences-1973-by-Arthur-Robert-Jensen

Subpopulation Differences in Educability 37
.magming terrible abuses that might conceivably follow from
pressing investigation too far, although these are usually fantastic
non sequiturs which no responsible scientists have ever endorsed.
Again, it amounts to beclouding a scientific issue by moral rhetoric,
such as that displayed in Lewontin’s (1970b, p. 25) bugaboo
question: ‘But suppose the difference between the black and white
IQ distributions were completely genetic: What program for social
iction flows from that fact Should all black children be given a
different education from all white children, even the 11 percent
who are better than the average white child Should all black men
be unskilled laborers and all black women clean other women’s
houses’ There seems to be a presumption that one’s common
sense, to say nothing of one’s ethics, social philosophy, and
humanity, hinge on the outcome of research that would establish
the existence or non-existence of racial genetic differences in
intelligence. Presumably, if the answer came out one way it would
turn us all into ‘bad guys’ and if it came out the other way we would
all have to be ‘good guys’. This kind of argument reminds me of
an eccentric preacher I once heard at London’s famous speaker’s
corner at Marble Arch, who warned that if men became atheists,
or even agnostics, they would inevitably take to gambling, fornicating,
and beating their wives and children! The history of
civilization, I believe, bears out the conclusion that scientific
knowledge has had beneficent consequences for mankind far more
often than evil consequences. True, knowledge can be misused,
but so can ignorance and closed systems of belief. Historically,
ignorance and dogma have wrought much more human suffering
than ever resulted from any scientific advances. Moreover, even
with the best of intentions, ignorance stands impotent when faced
with problems that need to be solved, while knowledge, given the
will, can lead to solutions.
Still another constellation of attitudes aligns the genetic study
of intelligence with efforts to maintain the status quo in our educational
practices. Evidence for the role of genetic factors in educability
is equated with support for inadequate and antiquated educational
practices, with opposition to improving schools and instructional
techniques. There is, of course, no logical connection between the
educator’s obligation to seek ways of improving educational
practices and the outcome of any research on the nature-nurture
issue. There is no rational basis for supposing that an extreme