[RH30363]

The authors ofThe Bell Curve later wrote an apologia (an article correcting and rephrasing many of their assertions) for that book. I have a copy of the article, but I believe it was published in The New York Times. Nevertheless, to answer your question, many standardized tests are culturally biased. The first I.Q. tests administered were actually literacy tests. Obviously, since teaching slaves to read was illegal, it is easy to see why African Americans scored poorly. Historically, standardized tests have been (either consciously or subconsciously) written so that one group would perform better than others. Along the same lines, the greatest predictor of success on the SAT (according to statistics) is wealth, not intelligence. This is an example of institutionalized prejudice. Often, people in the group that benefits from such prejudice scoff at the idea that these tests are anything but fair and objective, but don’t take my word for it, go read about it yourself. There are several books, studies, surveys, etc. that discuss the validity of intelligence tests and other standardized tests.

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Name : RH30363, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 27, City : Syracuse, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Law student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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