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A review by bookclubtrivia
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Charles Murray, Richard J. Herrnstein
3.0
Pretty racist, and their suggested solutions are basically “every man for himself” which just feels super backwards to me.
But they do make a few good points:
High schoolers are not motivated to try hard, because there’s no benefit (only one test matters, and only if you want to go to an Ivy).
The introduction of TV may have affected verbal IQ scores.
People of different abilities exist in society, and those with the lowest IQs struggle to survive due to complicated bureaucracy (ever tried to do your own taxes?) and wages that won’t support a household. They suggest that the earned income tax credit can help, and I agree, although I think minimum wage should go up as well and that both should be tied to inflation. I also think the EIC should be a graded amount like tax brackets, not just an automatic drop-off. The amount awarded goes down as income goes up, and the total should be enough to bring a full-time employee enough money to pay rent and survive.
I don’t think bringing race into it was necessary by any means; I think the whole point was for them to complain about affirmative action. There’s no way black IQs are an entire standard deviation below white ones, and if they are, there are certainly outside factors making it so. I do think IQ matters, to an extent, but I honestly think emotional intelligence is a better predictor of success.
Also smart women would have more babies if we had paid maternity/paternity leave, universal healthcare, and if climate change wasn’t destroying our future.
But they do make a few good points:
High schoolers are not motivated to try hard, because there’s no benefit (only one test matters, and only if you want to go to an Ivy).
The introduction of TV may have affected verbal IQ scores.
People of different abilities exist in society, and those with the lowest IQs struggle to survive due to complicated bureaucracy (ever tried to do your own taxes?) and wages that won’t support a household. They suggest that the earned income tax credit can help, and I agree, although I think minimum wage should go up as well and that both should be tied to inflation. I also think the EIC should be a graded amount like tax brackets, not just an automatic drop-off. The amount awarded goes down as income goes up, and the total should be enough to bring a full-time employee enough money to pay rent and survive.
I don’t think bringing race into it was necessary by any means; I think the whole point was for them to complain about affirmative action. There’s no way black IQs are an entire standard deviation below white ones, and if they are, there are certainly outside factors making it so. I do think IQ matters, to an extent, but I honestly think emotional intelligence is a better predictor of success.
Also smart women would have more babies if we had paid maternity/paternity leave, universal healthcare, and if climate change wasn’t destroying our future.