US Blacks Make Great Educational Gains

Here.

From the paper:

In the United States, based on a national assessment of adult literacy, African Americans improved their scores more than any other racial/ethnic group in the years between 1992 and 2003. The survey measured three elements of literacy: prose, document, and quantitative literacy – which are reading, synthesizing information from documents and graphs, and basic math.ch are reading, synthesizing information from documents and graphs, and basic math.

There’s an agenda behind most of the White nationalist and race realist arguments about Blacks. It should be no surprise that almost all such folks are conservative to reactionary, and many are out and out libertarians. They nearly all subscribe to the philosophy of minimal government and a free market. Such an agenda always decimates public education, but that’s how they want it. They’re either going to home school, send their kids to private schools, or they’re idiots.

There’s a reason that they continually harp on lower Black IQ’s and fall all over themselves to say that the Black IQ has been flat for 100 years. This means that Blacks are, for all intents and purposes, ineducable. Any money you spend on educating them is money down the rathole since they’re incapable of learning. This is a very convenient argument for moneyed Whites who hate the public schools. If educating Blacks is useless, let’s just quit educating them and cut them off. Think of all those nice White tax dollars you could save.

Marx was right in a sense. Everything isn’t all about economics, but in the modern world, so much of life surely is.

And with the White nationalists and race realists, there’s an ugly economic argument behind all the racist rhetoric: “I don’t want my hard-earned White tax dollars going to educate useless niggers.” This is the thought process underlying a lot of the anti-government movement in the US for the past 30 years. I know. I’ve lived in rightwing White communities all those years, and I know exactly how my people think. The rightwing revolution, from Reagan on, was about a lot of things, but it was so about race.

Above we see that one of their prime arguments is a lie. Turns out Blacks are educable after all. Turns out that they can improve over time, giving the lie to the sly hereditarian assumption that Black achievement will be frozen by genetic constraints.

On the NAEP, Blacks have reduced the gap by about 1/3. You would never know this if you went to a White nationalist site. All they do is rant that there’s been no progress.

Blacks now nearly match Whites on vocabulary, controlling for socioeconomic status.

Controlling for economic status, Blacks now nearly match Whites on vocabulary. So increasing Black economic status raises Black vocabulary scores dramatically. At the same time, rising White economic status had no effect on scores.

Young Blacks have closed the B-W IQ gap by 5.5 points over 30 years.

Young Blacks have closed the B-W IQ gap by 5.5 points over 30 years. However, this applies only to Black minors. By age 24, the gain is all lost, and the B-W IQ gap is the same. One thing that is very interesting is that Black 5 year olds have IQ’s of 98 (US White IQ = 103). That’s only 5 points below US White IQ’s. People say it’s because Blacks mature faster, but that seems like a lousy argument. Black kids score about the same as Black adults in Africa.

On the cynical side, I could note that environmental effects are greatest in childhood. As one moves into adulthood, environmental effects diminish, and genetic effects tend to predominate.

However, this data does show that the extremely rich Western environment of the US is dramatically raising the IQ’s of Black children. It is interesting that this gap closing has occurred in the past 30 years, which coincides with Liberation from 1964-on. There may be hope yet.

All this positive news aside, any discussion of B-W achievement gap that does not include talk about IQ is useless. Yet that’s what passes for policy debate in the US.

The gap may never be entirely closable, but surely it can be reduced.

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36 thoughts on “US Blacks Make Great Educational Gains”

  1. Well, as you know, I’ve never given much weight to IQ. I personally believe that environment and economic background account for more than genetics.

    However, I think that whites have a need to not only better educate themselves and improve their schools, but improve black schools as well. I don’t say this out of any Robert Jensen anti-racist impulse, but for purely practical reasons. Since we continue to lag behind many other nations educationally, is it wise to continue to permit the existence of large masses of uneducated blacks and browns?

    Trust me, if a disproportionate (note: not all) numbers of blacks and Hispanics continue to remain uneducated, they will be little more than a burden to society.

    1. Is Robert Jensen that nutty radical anti-racist feminist journalism professor Texas?

      This is what sucks about the Left. In order to be a leftwinger, I have to hate my people, the Whites. That’s so I can suck up to the radical non-Whites. I also have to hate my gender, the males. That’s so I can suck up to the radical feminists. I guess I also have to hate my sexual orientation, since Jensen thought that being heterosexual was inherently oppressive, so he *turned queer* just to be all cool and radical and stuff.

      But that didn’t work out either and I think now he’s just bummed out.

      If that’s what it means to be on the Left, screw it. I may as well just go join the Tea Parties. At least they don’t hate Whites, males and straights.

    2. Is Robert Jensen that nutty radical anti-racist feminist journalism professor Texas?

      Yup, the one and only!

      This is what sucks about the Left. In order to be a leftwinger, I have to hate my people, the Whites. That’s so I can suck up to the radical non-Whites. I also have to hate my gender, the males. That’s so I can suck up to the radical feminists. I guess I also have to hate my sexual orientation, since Jensen thought that being heterosexual was inherently oppressive, so he *turned queer* just to be all cool and radical and stuff.

      Once again, Robert, you nailed it. In many ways, I agree with the left. However, I can never become a radical leftist because I simply refuse to hate my people. How can a healthy person consciously despise his own kind?

      I certainly don’t agree with a good portion of what American Renaissance says (mainly their views on racial science and genetics as well as their hatred of all popular culture), but they at least are proud of their people and don’t engage in masochistic self-flagellation.

      If that’s what it means to be on the Left, screw it. I may as well just go join the Tea Parties. At least they don’t hate Whites, males and straights.

      I don’t think I could ever join the Tea Parties! I refuse to become that willfully ignorant and misguided (why I don’t have a high opinion of the Tea Parties is for another post). However, I certainly don’t despise the Tea Party protesters the way I despise the Robert Jensen types. The Tea Party people at least don’t demonize me.

    3. I’ve never heard of this Jensen guy, but I wouldn’t assume all anti-racist have an anti-white agenda. There are a range of opinions to be found between the Tea Partiers and the radicals on the left fringe.

      I doubt someone like Tim Wise hates whites. His wife is white, his two daughters are white. Does he hate his own daughters and wife? I think equating anti-racist with anti-white is page out of the WN playbook. And even if they do come down heavy on whites, that’s not anti-white per se. Is it anti-black when black conservatives point out problems with black people? Why is it anti-white if a white points out problems with white people?

    4. Is it anti-black when black conservatives point out problems with black people? Why is it anti-white if a white points out problems with white people?

      If by black conservatives, you mean Larry Elder and Jesse Lee Peterson, then I can’t say for certain that they hate black people. However, either way, their fellow blacks deem them Uncle Toms. The fact remains that they demonize and criticize their fellow blacks in order to please whites.

      Also, Robert and I both point out problems of whites and the need for whites to internally fix their problems. We recognize that whites have many problems and are far from perfect.

      At the same time, we don’t kiss non-white ass and encourage whites to kowtow to non-whites and unquestioningly follow their lead. We also don’t romanticize blacks and place them on this great moral pedestal the way Tim Wise does. I’ve read his articles and listened to him speak, and he’s basically an angry black preacher trapped in a white man’s body.

      I doubt someone like Tim Wise hates whites. His wife is white, his two daughters are white. Does he hate his own daughters and wife? I think equating anti-racist with anti-white is page out of the WN playbook. And even if they do come down heavy on whites, that’s not anti-white per se.

      He does hate whites. I’ve read his articles and watched videos of his speeches (often in rooms with mainly black/non-white audiences) and I can tell that he clearly hates his white skin. He frequently refers to whites as pale faces, melanin deprived, and even reaches as far back as ancient Greece and Rome in order to demonize European culture and schools of thought (and in order to criticize European culture, he cites the work of two radical afrocentric black American scholars).

      Also, based on reading his articles, you can tell that his Jewish identity has much to do with his anti-white beliefs. He spoke of how he endured anti-semitism from white christians and expressed anger at his fellow Jews for getting angry at Farrakhan while not coming down on white anti-semites. He also laments the fact that Jews are no longer as leftist as they were a few decades ago. I’m no Jewish conspiracy theorist, but part of his activism is probably motivated (at least partially) by his desire to get back at the goy.

      As an aside, I know that many Jews do not think like Wise. Jew Among You and his blog illustrates that.

      I don’t care that he’s married to a white woman and has two white daughters. His wife must be one of those “enlightened” anti-racist whites just like him, which makes her one of the exceptions. Even the most virulent white nationalists find black individuals (including members of the opposite sex) that they like.

      Manly black nationalists such as Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan frequently criticize their own people and implore them to improve, but they don’t kiss white ass. They also extol the virtues of their fellow blacks, and don’t act as if everything about their fellow blacks was bad. Wise, on the other hand, has nothing but negative things to say about whites and this nation.

      One doesn’t have to be a white nationalist to know that Tim Wise is anti-white.

    5. To follow up on that, many men will make exceptions when it comes to individual women, regardless of background. I bet that even David Duke wouldn’t mind hooking up with Gabrielle Union or Halle Berry.

    6. Bay Area Guy, how do you know what motivates people like Larry Elder and Jesse Lee Peterson? You seem to be certain that they do what they do simply to please Whites.

    7. Bay Area Guy, how do you know what motivates people like Larry Elder and Jesse Lee Peterson? You seem to be certain that they do what they do simply to please Whites.

      I do recall mentioning that I can’t say for certain whether or not they despise or look down on black people. I confess that I have absolutely no clue what is going through their heads.

      However, how do we know of these two individuals? Well, they’re the token house negroes that the MSM (Fox news in particular) invites to speak in order to counter what a more leftist black activist has to say (for example, Fox news having leftist black professor Marc Lamont Hill and Larry Elder going at it). In fact, I think that Jesse Lee Peterson is Sean Hannity’s pastor!

      All I know is that they make good money kissing white ass. Whether or not that’s how they truly feel, I’ll never know for sure.

    8. I have no interest in either one of them. But are you saying that the only true Black position would be a leftist position?

    9. No, I never said that. For example, many black nationalists such as Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X espoused conservative self-improvement and spurned integration and other liberal reforms. At the same time, they didn’t suck up to whites like t.v. black conservatives.

      The point I’m trying to make through all of this is that one can criticize their people and preach self-improvement without becoming sellouts, which is what Tim Wise and Larry Elder are.

    10. You are opposed to integration, yet you have no problem with the laws that compelled it.

      This seems inconsistent.

    11. You are opposed to integration, yet you have no problem with the laws that compelled it.

      I don’t know how exactly I’ve been inconsistent. In case I have, I’ll clarify. I don’t believe in the existence of forceful de jure segregation and legalized discrimination (though there are some post civil rights and anti-discrimination laws and practices which don’t bode too well with me, but that’s for another post).

      I am, however, opposed to forced integration, be it schooling or housing. People should not be forced to live, attend school with, or mingle with those they don’t like.

      I believe in self-determination and the freedom of association, not compulsory mixing. If people
      wish to associate with different people, then they have every right to do so. I’ve had various friends and acquaintances from different races. However, if you were to place me in a school or neighborhood and tell me that I am obligated to mix with others, then there’s going to be problems.

      By the way, I have greater respect for Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X than many civil rights leaders.

    12. You have not at all clarified your position.

      To be opposed to forced integration and not have a problem with the laws that brought it about is quite inconsistent.

    13. What specific laws do you have in mind? It depends on which laws we’re talking about. What laws in particular have I objected to? If you can produce the offending quote, then please do so.

    14. Environment and background are secondary unless they are severe, such as severe malnutrition or psychological abuse. Like my friend from El Salvador had a huge scar on his face from the revolution. He watched his parents get killed when he was little, that is what I mean by severe.

      Why can’t white people even qualify to run in the 100m dash? They are so rich their butler usually runs around for them I guess? 🙂 Depleting their ability to run. While black people are always running from the cops see, and so now they run fast! (That was a joke)

      Black people run faster, It’s genetic.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnBpnltTrMo

    15. The whole standard White anti-racist thing, well, you are supposed to be this supplicating, self-abnegating, flagellating sort of White. It’s kind of fun to act this way, and I sort of did it for years. I gleefully said that I thought Whites were inferior to Blacks, stuff like that. I was a self-hating White. Thing was, I didn’t really believe it, which I think is the case with a lot of these guys.

      Finally when faced with living as a White minority, I found ethnocentrism, and it sure feels good! It feels soooo much better than White self-abnegation.

      I think it is quite clear that Tim White is a self-abnegating White. Same with Larry Elder and Armstrong Williams and the rest. Every race has its traitors, as my late father used to say. The Whites have Tim Wise, the Blacks have Larry Elder and Armstrong Williams. It’s too bad that only Black conservatives have a reputation for being self-critical. Really, the Black Left ought to take it up, but they won’t, as that is “blaming the victim.”

      1. Bay Area Guy,

        I confess that I have absolutely no clue what is going through their heads.

        Then you will have to retract your statement that they are only trying to please whites. Most white critiques of blacks are accurate, and it is not entirely surprising that some blacks would agree them.

        There isn’t anything intrinsically wrong with attempting to please whites, in any case. Racial relations mostly suffer because of bad black behavior towards whites, not vice versa, so blacks amending theirs in order to correct for its excesses would go a long way towards appeasing whites at risk of becoming WNs.

        I believe in self-determination and the freedom of association, not compulsory mixing.

        In other words, legalized discrimination. It’s discrimination — it draws distinctions — and it’s legal. Legalized discrimination is practically synonymous with self-determination and freedom of association.

      2. Then you will have to retract your statement that they are only trying to please whites.

        Not necessarily. While deep down inside they may not be trying to please whites, they certainly get paid good money to do so.

        In other words, legalized discrimination. It’s discrimination — it draws distinctions — and it’s legal. Legalized discrimination is practically synonymous with self-determination and freedom of association.

        I don’t exactly get what you’re trying to say here. I believe that I should be able to associate with whomever I please and enjoy self-determination without having to engage in discrimination.

        If you think such actions by law are discriminatory, then so be it. If that’s the case, the kind of discrimination you speak of certainly should be legal.

      3. Agree with Alpha, who even cares what Elder or Wise’s motivations are. Saying they sucking up to the enemy so to speak is nothing but an ad hominem used to discredit someone without addressing the merits of their arguments.

      4. Every race has its traitors. Larry Elder is a Black traitor. Tim Wise is a White traitor. There’s a way to be an anti-racist (though not within the current paradigm) without being a traitor, but Wise ain’t doing it. Wise’s remarks about melanin-deficiency, palefaces, etc. are quite illuminating. I was sort of into this stuff for many years. It’s hip among a certain type of SWPL liberal-Left types.

        Thing is, it’s ridiculous. Whites are not the enemy, everything we’ve done is not wrong, and anyway, if the shoe was on the other foot, the other races, if they were in charge, would only have acted worse. When Blacks and Hispanics were running the show in their respective societies, they were far more racist and cruel to their ethnic competitors than we Whites have been, and certainly than we are now.

        They have nothing to brag about. Slavery was shit, but so was the world of Africa. So was the world of the Aztecs and Amerindians. Almost every ethnic group on Earth except for Europeans acts utterly horrible once they get in charge, discriminating like mad against their ethnic competitors. European derived Whites, for all their faults, are now the most non-racist and probably anti-racist people on the face of the Earth.

        Yet the Tim Wise’s and Abagond’s act as if we are the font of all evil! What a joke! Look at the non-White societies. Look at Africa. Look at the Caribbean. Look at that shithole called Latin America. Look at most of the rest of the world. Sure, we Whites are still bad, but we’re head and shoulders above the rest, and if the others were in our place, they would only act worse.

        Modern anti-racism singles Whites out for particular and exceptional scorn, as if we are special. Most of our bad behavior is in the past.

        Most “White racism” nowadays is in fact inferred by relatively poorer performance of Hispanics and especially Blacks. Since no one can figure out why they fall behind, the default assumption of the Tim Wise – Abagond crowd is that the only possible reason must be White racism!

        I beg to differ! Who says that the reason that these groups fall behind is due to White racism? Prove it. The mere fact that they fall behind is not in fact default proof that White racism is the culprit, yet this is what modern anti-racism assumes. And yes, modern anti-racism (Tim White – Abagond style) is fiercely, ferociously anti-White. Now, maybe that’s not bad. Maybe we Whites are bad. Maybe we deserve it. Maybe we are the cause of everything.

        But increasingly, I don’t think so. And whenever I believe them and think Whites act bad, I look at these other groups, and it seems to me that they act even worse.

        BTW, you wonder why I go easy on these crazy Afrocentrists who come here. I respect them! They stick up for their people – the Blacks. I like that. Every race should stick up for themselves. Larry Elder is nothing but a traitor. He’s working for the White Enemy.

      5. Robert, that was a great post! Out of all blacks, I too have the greatest respect for nationalists such as Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X, because they fight on behalf of their people.

        Tulio, I do agree that people generally should focus more on the arguments themselves as opposed to those making the arguments.

        At the same time, it’s hard to trust anyone who adheres to any extreme ideology. Would you trust anything David Duke has to say about race? Of course not, because he’s a former KKK grand wizard (or whatever the hell their title is nowadays) and his views are therefore colored (pun intended) by his biases. One cannot trust him to present an accurate and rational picture.

        Likewise, I cannot trust Tim Wise due to his extreme bias and unwillingness to change any of his beliefs. Once Tim Wise, Larry Elder, or any other polemicist sets his beliefs in stone, they will never change their minds. They all suffer from confirmation bias, which means that they’ll always look for validation of their beliefs, all logic be damned.

        Therefore, while one should focus more on arguments, you cannot completely dismiss the identities of those making the arguments.

      6. Tim Wise says a lot of things that are true, but ultimately, I just think the message is off. White racism is no good, but it’s not the end-all and be-all of everything. Most Black problems nowadays are self-generated. Wise’s arguments against Jared Taylor’s Color of Crime were particularly weak.

        David Duke is right about a number of things. A lot of those guys are. But then he’s wrong about a lot of stuff too. What these guys do is they use facts that work to their advantages to buttress their horrible arguments. Their chosen facts are not wrong, but their conclusions are.

        I don’t know anything about Larry Elder. But I find that almost everything conservatives say nowadays is some kind of lie or distortion.

  2. You will have to explain these graphs a little more. The first one shows the black score at 5.5 in 1909, and 5.5 in 1975. But the white score went down to 5.5 from 7. How is that improvement for blacks? Also :”Predicted by TOBIT special background model” sounds a little fishy my friend.

    The second graph shows the best black score reaching 88 to whites 100. Okay that’s improvement. But I gotta tell you, my niece is 1/4 black, she ‘looks’ black, so her school considers her black. She is in the gifted class, and she received a “college tuition promise” from some government aid to minorities program.

    My point being, she would be considered black on these tests, and considering the desperation by school officials to show progress, why would they bother isolating for mixed race kids? This may be the “white nationalist” response eh?

    1. I’m sorry, I meant white men don’t win. In fact only black men have ever run the 100m dash in under 10 seconds.

    2. Flynn and his co-author dealt with that in the article. They did not feel that increased breeding with Whites was much of a factor in rising Black IQ among young Blacks. Anyway, since the adult B-W gap is about as big as ever, for sure it doesn’t look like mulattization is much of a factor. Mulattization in the US would definitely raise the Black IQ; I am quite sure of this.

      Your first argument. The Blacks are now reaching the Whites on this test when matched for socioeconomic status. I guess SES used to be a benefit for Whites, but maybe not so much anymore, since there are now lots of dumb rich Whites. Meanwhile, there are many more Blacks with money than 100 years ago. It’s improvement for Blacks in lessening the gap.

  3. You know how much actual influence these cultural Marxists actually have in the real world? Almost none. Can you think of any elected politician who listens to them, including those whom most Americans would regard as loony left, say Ralph Nader or Dennis Kucinich (sp?) Do you personally know any actual white person of any political creed who takes this stuff seriously? Outside of a small circle of educated imbeciles, this stuff has *no influence,* nor should it. Oh, I guess there are annoying sensitivity training sessions, comparable to the pinch of incense every Roman citizen had to offer once a year to deified emperors.

    The last time any of this appealed to anyone whose opinions counted was the late 1960s-early 1970s when clearly insane, third-world deifying tendencies like weatherman were attracting people who were otherwise capable and intelligent.

  4. To Mort Goldman:

    You know how much actual influence these cultural Marxists actually have in the real world?

    I guess it depends upon how you define cultural Marxism, but it has quite an influence on the University system and has already weakened the first amendment.

    Do you personally know any actual white person of any political creed who takes this stuff seriously?

    Yes I do, plus quite a few non-White persons.

    Can you think of any elected politician who listens to them, including those whom most Americans would regard as loony left, say Ralph Nader or Dennis Kucinich (sp?)

    Most of the city council of San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland. Several of Obama’s appointees sound like cultural Marxists. (I know that sounds like Glen Beck talking but I think it’s accurate.. even though it may not apply to Obama himself….) Quite a few judges.

  5. To Bay Area Guy:

    As an aside, I know that many Jews do not think like Wise.

    By Israel’s definition, Tim Wise is not a Jew. His mother is not Jewish, nor does he does he apparently attend a synagogue.

    1. You don’t need to have much Jew in you to be an honorary Jew. Jewish ethnocentrism is a funny thing. Even 1/2 Jews often have it in spades. I mean half their relatives are often Jews. Knowing that Hitler would have killed you for being Jewish has a funny way of focusing the mind in such a way as Israel’s immigration laws never can. Even Jewish converts rapidly become hyperethnocentric as some guy 500 years kosher, which makes me doubt that Jewish hyperethnocentrism is genetic.

  6. By age 24, the gain is all lost, and the B-W IQ gap is the same.

    So you want to spend billions of other people’s money just to raise their score on a test a few meager points even though it would all be wiped away within a few years of their exit from school?

    Sheer lunacy!

    All of those billions of dollars should be spent on youths of high IQs. Very little is currently invested in them.

  7. To Rob:

    Re: Tim Wise

    You don’t need to have much Jew in you to be an honorary Jew. Jewish ethnocentrism is a funny thing. Even 1/2 Jews often have it in spades. I mean half their relatives are often Jews.

    Tim Wise certainly invokes being Jewish enough. More so than most Jews I know. Like Wise my father is Jewish and I guarantee you there are Jewish people who do not accept me as Jewish nor a friend of mine who also has a gentile mother and a Jewish father. Neither my friend nor I were raised Jewish and I suspect neither was Wise, I think he mentions his ethnicity as a ploy in his mind to goad WNs.

    1. Yeah, but you mention Jews a lot, and you have always stuck up for them to an inordinate degree, much more, even, than the real Jews on here like Mort Goldman. None of this made sense to me until you finally told us a little while ago that you were half-Jewish. It all makes sense now. I think the # of times that you bring up Jewry and the vociferousness with which you defend them both prove my point: you, a 1/2 Jew, also have Jewish ethnocentrism in spades.

      I suppose it makes sense. I mean, being half-Jewish, you will be sensitive to anti-Semites who are bashing half your ancestors. And Hitler would have killed you for sure. Knowing that tends to focus the mind really well.

      I think what’s going on with Tim Wise is Jewish ethnocentrism, same as with you, Unc. Unfortunately, I think his Jewish background does indeed explain a lot of his anti-White shtick. A lot of Whites are self-haters, but some of the worst and biggest ones of all seem to be Jews, have you ever noticed that?

      I guess what they are reacting against is White ethnocentrism. Whenever Whites start getting ethnocentric, there tends to be a pogrom around the corner. And nowadays most people who are openly “pro-White” are also coincidentally pro-Nazi. Jews take one look at that and say, “Screw this White Pride crap. It’s Nazism.” And they go on jihad against it. Like Tim Wise and Noel Ignatiev.

      I realize that Jews don’t accept you guys, after all, according to Jewish law, you’re not even Jewish. But knowing that anti-Semites hate you just for having a Jewish father probably does tend to focus your mind a bit, no?

  8. To Rob:

    If that’s what it means to be on the Left, screw it. I may as well just go join the Tea Parties. At least they don’t hate Whites, males and straights.

    Well which would you rather see.. ?
    Nekkid Arnarcho women or Nekkid Tea Party women..? My guess is the former. Maybe you could hang out with Anarcho types and seduce a few lasses with pamphlets on linguistics.

    Or maybe one should head over to Lebanon for a protest:

    http://www.distributedrepublic.net/archives/2005/03/07/my-corrupt-western-biases/

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