More from the New York Times: Toward a Unified Theory of Black America, from Stephen J. Dubner. Interesting article about Economist Roland G. Fryer, an assistant professor at Harvard who has some pretty outspoken views.
“I want to have an honest discussion about race in a time and a place where I don’t think we can,” he says. ”Blacks and whites are both to blame. As soon as you say something like, ‘Well, could the black-white test-score gap be genetics?’ everybody gets tensed up. But why shouldn’t that be on the table?”
In addition to quoting Fryer’s controversial views, Dubner’s article itself has some:
The very issue of black-white inequality has, in recent years, been practically driven from public view. But according to the data that Fryer lives with, the inequality itself hasn’t gone away. There have been countless distractions — wars, economic gyrations, political turmoil — and, perhaps just as significantly, fatigue. The proven voices and standard ideologies have lost much of their power.
Interesting especially in view of the Larry Summers flap, wherein the president of Harvard wondered aloud if genetics might explain why women are underrepresented in the sciences.
I’m not sure what is more interesting, Fryer, or the fact that the Times ran this article…
Posted by ole at 07:27 AM