[Annette]

Your reply stating that blacks who are not ‘polluted’ with cross-breeding are less intelligent through no fault of their own smacks of patronizing racism. The other replies, regarding social expectations for blacks, the validity of the IQ test, socioeconomic factors, etc., all address why some cross-sections of black students scored poorly (as did many white students) on the IQ test. I believe living in a culture in which one is validated as the central people of the culture, coupled with a good education, will help anyone achieve. This is the situation for many white male kids, and less so for minorities, including blacks.

As far as your racist stereotyping of ‘Orientals’ (You’re referring to appearance, not to geographical origin, as many Caucasian people originate in some areas of the ‘Orient’), you are mistaken about IQ. Neither Japanese Americans nor Chinese Americans show higher-than-average IQ scores. Native Japanese may show a fortitude for math and science, as well as any area that demands attention to detail or memorization skills. Why? Here’s my theory originating from knowledge about brain development and personal experience. While living and teaching in Japan, I saw children, beginning around age 3, learn more than 200 characters comprising Hiragana and Katakana (simplified writing). During their 12 years of school, they learned more than 2,000 Kanji (Chinese) characters. Those young years are crucial to brain development. With such attention to minute details between characters, I believe the language helps the development of the brain in some areas, thus creating higher aptitudes for some subjects. Further, the Japanese education demanded much more than its Western counterparts in areas of math and science.

The lowpoint of the Japanese education system is its emphasis on conformity and rote memorization. I could not ask for an analysis of a socioeconomic or political issues; they would not know where to begin. Art classes consisted of copying other work, not creating for themselves. Analytical skills as well as creativity was exceptionally lacking. (This is not true for the Japanese-American high school students I’ve taught in this country.)

I believe that education and cultural affirmation, not race, are the most important factors determining success on aptitude tests. And yes, brain development is very important – this is affected by heredity, nutrition and exposure to multiple stimuli at early years … not race.

User Detail :  

Name : Annette, Gender : F, Age : 41, City : Boise, State : ID, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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