Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

LETTERS TO AND FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers: I, the undersigned editor of perspectives, have raised the question of a genetic basis for racial differences in intelligence without the approval of the other editors. I am not yet ready to accept the popular beliefthat all races are equally endowed with intelligence. It is probable that the most important causes of racial differences in achievement are environmental, but it is difficult for me to believe that the human brain—the most complex product ofevolution—is unaffected by genetic factors relating to race when overt physical differences are obvious. It seems possible that the differences in average native intelligence between some racial groups are of practical significance although there is almost complete overlapping in range. The evidence for and against the proposition is unsatisfactory. The difficulties ofdoing research in this area (heterogeneity ofthe major "races," problems ofsampling, lack ofculture-free measures ofintelligence and performance , etc.) are real, but the same factors which tend to invalidate the evidence for genetic differences also weaken the evidence that races are equally endowed with intelligence. Suppose that racial differences in test performance always disappear (they do in a few, but not all, studies) when the socioeconomic and/or cultural level variables are controlled. What would that mean? Socioeconomic and cultural status correlate positively with intelligence ; not a perfect correlation but sufficiently high to insure non-random selection in respect to intelligence when selection is based on these factors. In other words, when samples oftwo racial groups are found to be equal in test performance when selected on the basis ofsocioeconomic and/or cultural status, they may represent significantly different areas ofthe distribution curve ofabilities ofeach racial population. I do not believe that the question ofrace and intelligence can be resolved by review and debate of the available data. Why then open the pages of perspectives to polemics? Because the polemic can stimulate thought, debate, and research. We shall continue to permit attacks upon dogma in the fields of biology and medicine when debate can be expected to stimulate more penetrating inquiry. The argument about race and intelligence does not serve that purpose when it becomes personal and emotional, but it is useful to let biologists and physicians consider the kinds ofargument to be found within the social sciences when the biology ofman is at issue. There are possible approaches to the question that offer promise. I suggest one. A number of communities in the United States and Canada have been racially integrated for several generations. Some groups of Negro children have attended only superior integrated schools since kindergarten. These Negroes represent selected groups since they have achieved equality of educational opportunity more by virtue of their drives and 130 Letters to andfrom the Editor Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Autumn 1961 ability dian by chance. I suggest comparing the incidence of superior intelligence and achievement among Negroes and whites who have had experience only with good schools in addition to comparisons ofaverage performance. Such a study should include an appraisal ofthe amount ofracial mixing. This comparison ofpeak abilities would be comparable to die search for Olympic and professional adiletes, which yields a disproportionately high percentage ofNegro champions. We need related studies ofwhy so few Negro students enterandsucceedin the natural sciences, medicine, and the medical sciences. We need all the good Negro scientists and doctors that we can get. Society needs all the scholars and good citizens that it can get from all its peoples, and equal civil rights and good educational opportunity—presently denied to many—are requisites for optimal achievement. But ifthere areinherited differences in abilities and drives which are related to race, we should have this information also, not to support prejudice, but to gain better insights into the causes ofracialproblems. New information on die genetic basis ofmental abilities would not direaten the principle that each individual should be appraised on his aptitudes, drives, and behavioral standards without regard to race. But it may be that ifdie time comes when racial bias disappears and each individual can move ahead according to his aptitudes and drives that, although individuals ofevery race will achieve excellence in every field, there will continue to be important racial differences...