Race, Intelligence and Education

A tight and unmarked copy-" This book is not 'comfort reading'. It discusses the thorny issue of different mean educational attainments by pupils and students from different ethnic backgrounds, and how this should be addressed in educational policy. It starts by describing the appalling treatment of the psychologist Arthur Jensen by people who disagreed with his views on race and intelligence, and who were unable to express their disagreements in a measured and civilized manner (Eysenck was similarly treated for writing this book). Eysenck then describes what is meant by cognitive ability, intelligence, and g IQ, and how consistent differences are found between races by almost all academics and studies that have attempted to measure it. Finally, he discusses the implications of such differences, and how they might be addressed in social and educational policies. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone in teaching or who is formulating educational policy, or indeed, for politicians in general. That is not to say that everyone must agree with it, simply that it is too important a subject to dismiss without considering the arguments on both sides objectively. Ideally, this book should be read before The Bell Curve (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994: Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book) ) as it poses several questions that are addressed by the latter study. Because of their fundamental relationship to the origins and capabilities of mankind, both books have much wider relevance to our provision of social welfare and overseas aid, and what these interventions might be expected to achieve. If there is a mild criticism, it is that Eysenck chose not to reference individual facts in the text, instead grouping them into a 'Further reading' section. He justified this by saying that the book was not intended as a source for fellow psychologists but for a more general readership. Unfortunately, this approach fails to recognize that academics from fields outside their specialisms use such books to access the scientific literature of a different field."- Syms