\doc\web\97\06\rushton.txt Date sent: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 16:19:15 -0400 From: "Prof. J. Philippe Rushton" Subject: Contact To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Arthur-- Thanks for the re-contact. You really ought to read my book (visit me at http://www.bookworld.com/rushton). In 1996 it came out in Japanese. in 1997 it came out in paperback with a 20-printed page afterword by me updating the science since the book went to press and costs $24.95. It covers a lot of the questions you touch on. For instance, black babies in African and in America are born about 7-10 days earlier than White or Asian babies but are physiologically more mature (measured by standard amneotic fluid asessments). Moreover they have better eye-hand coordination, better musculature control, and greater bone development. This faster rate of development lasts throughout life. Age of walking is 11 months for Blacks, 12 months for Whites and 13 months for Asians. As for AIDS I checked your site and you claim priority in being first to show Asian underrepresentation both within the USA and Asia. Not so. My article published in the 1989 issue of Social Science and Medicine was the first to do so with full documentation but my earlier publications in Journal of Research in Personality in 1987, 1988, and 1989 discussing the 3-way racial gradient in sexual behavior with some discussion of sexually transmitted diseases actually even preceded it. (All references are in the Race book.) My main focus of research remains brain size and IQ. I am about to send off to a scientific journal (a resubmission after making corrections following referees comments) the results of a study finding that Asian-American babies are born with slightly larger heads than European-American and especially African-American babies. The head size measures stay in this ordering to age seven at which time the Asian sample also has a higher IQ than the other two groups. Within the Asians as within Whites and Blacks, head size and IQ are correlated. (Other research using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) confirm the brain-size/IQ relationship. Great talking with you. sincerely, Phil Rushton Arthur Thanks. I know the Mecury news quoted me on Asian AIDS, and I dont' know how many people paid attention to your research, but you're probably right. Please take a look at the CTBS spectrum which shows lagging achievement even in the best schools. What do you make of the 50th percentile showing for blacks in K-G4 in Atlanta, Boston, DC, and New York? Is this a genetic thing? Have you heard that a ETS official claims that blacks read at the highest rates in kindergarten? Arthur... what's interesting is that the same tests that put blacks at 50 in K-G4 are the same ones where they lag later on. Gary Orfield acknowledged high 50 test scores, but then cited low high school performance, it appears that both are true. You've never noted this effect? In detroit, G4 is about 40, where the high school scores are really low. Take another cruise by the test.htm page and see what you think. I'm inclined to believe that genes may create a predisposition to over or underachiement, or sexual activity, but since there are instances where poor blacks score well, or don't have sex, I am also inclined to believe that such predispostions may be countered by culture. People may be genetically different, but on a scale from worms to people, it's not much different overall. Has anyone done IQ tests of illiterate Chinese peasants when the average black is a high school graduate with some college? This is another question I've wondered about. I've got elderly Chinese in-laws and it astounds me how difficult some tasks that are routine for Americans (like loading batteries, film, using TV remote) are for immigrants. > Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 19:24:01 -0400 > From: "Prof. J. Philippe Rushton" > Subject: Black achievement > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > I don't believe for a second that Blacks are scoring higher than White or > Asian groups. It is an embarrassmnet that such nonsense gets in the media. > In fact I saw one report that Every State in the US claimed its students > scored above average on Nationally normed tests. There are ways that test > publishers can recreate norms for different versions of their tests. In > fact they have to or no-one will buy their tests. If you were the Supt of > Schools in Tenneessee wouldn't you be more inclined to adopt a test that > claimed on piloting that TN was at the 74th percentile rather than one that > showed TN was at the 22nd percentile? The only way fair evaluations can be > made is when the Same Test is given to different groups and their scores > directly compared! Of course Blacks may outperform Asians on tests in > English if the Asians don't speak English! But that is about the only way. > > The African situation is interesting. There, the IQ scores average about > 70 or as far below Black Americans as Black Americans score below Whites. > This is reflected in their economies and infrastructure. Yet the media > continue to report stories that the "new" South Africa and the "new" Uganda > will become the "Tigers" of Africa. Sure! Do you think the writers are > investing their pension money in African Mutual Funds? > > Believe me I take no pleasure in finding these race differences, including > the Asian advantage in brain size. but I am a scientist and find the 3-way > pattern fascinating. You say you find the gen-based evolutionary scenario > I propose a little difficult to swallow. What is the alternative? God > created the races this way? Economic bad luck for Africa and good fortune > for Asia? Given differences in brain size, testosterone, and speed of > physical maturation, some genetic contribution is almost certain. > > All best-- > Phil > > What do you think of premature / low birthweight statistics, routinely blamed on racism. Is this just a genetic thing? Asian babies seem to just weigh less, it does not affect their mortality rate, blacks have a higher mortality rate in every city, even among the educated and affluent. what do you think of Hispanics and Asians having similar longer lifespans and lower mortality rates? I call it racial marxism when people try to reduce racial issues to poverty and class, but you find out 9 times out of 10, poverty and class doesn't explain racial differences. differences within a race don't explain differences between races.