Re: nbc Jeff Jacoby on the looters nbc

On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 00:01:50 -0500, "Gumboman" <noemail@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>
>"Ukes" <duke_of_diddly@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:8neph11h8kuke0ml92rmis7nordmvivch5@xxxxxxxxxx
>> On Mon, 5 Sep 2005 13:32:26 -0500, "Gumboman" <noemail@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>
>Jerry,
>
>There is nothing really new here

Jack - The authors of the study reported differently. They wrote that:
"Beyond anecdotal cases, little is known about what, and in what ways,
science is constrained. To begin to fill this gap, we performed an
interview study to examine how constraints affect what scientists do."
http://tinyurl.com/8f65o And if there's nothing new in the study, why
would the editors of Science decide to publish it?

>and nothing in the article that isn't a
>somewhat more detailed analysis of the same thing I said in a couple of
>paragraphs. Lots of folks just don't want to be bothered by the nutcases,
>that doesn't mean that those who aren't bothered aren't free to do as they
>choose, within the confines of having to obtain funding.

Joe was talking about political correctness impeding science and I
posted an article about a study that empirically established that
scientists practice self-censorship in order to avoid studying
controversial subjects that they otherwise consider worthy of inquiry
(which is largely to be another way of saying political correctness
impedes science). As I understood it, you were talking about the
funding of studies.


>
>As far as Jensen I'm aware of there being some controversy over his
>research. I can't say the field he specialized in interests me very much so
>I was never curious enough to keep up with the controversy. I'm not aware
>that he was sileneced in any way or unable to get his research published. Is
>there something I should know?
>


I mentioned Jensen because he has published research on what is almost
certainly the most politically incorrect and taboo topics in America:
group differences in intelligence and the likelihood that there is
some genetic component to those differences.

In 1969 Jensen, a Professor of Educational Psychology at Berkeley, had
an article published in the Harvard Educational Review titled "How
Much Can We Boost I.Q. and Scholastic Achievement?" In that article,
Jensen noted that programs, that were designed to boost the IQs and
school achievement of children who were at-risk, such as Head Start,
were likely to be largely unsuccessful because differences in IQ are
mostly due to genes. (At the time, differences in intelligence were
thought to largley to be determined by environment. Now it nearly
universally accepted that Jensen was right, and that, in adults, it is
70-80% determined by genes). Jensen also discussed the white-black
gap in IQ (generally said to be about one standard deviation), and
said that the evidence was more consistent with there being a genetic
component to the gap, rather than the gap being solely caused by
environmental factors.

After the article gained media attention there was controverst in the
mass media and the Harvard Educational Review refused to print more
copies of the article. Also Jensen's classes at Berkeley were
disrupted by demonstrators, the tires of his car were slashed, he and
his family received death threats, Berkeley provided him with
bodyguard escorts whenever he left his office, and the city of
Berkeley terminated and prohibited his ability to perform research in
Berkeley schools.

Since that time, and notwithstanding the fact that he is highly
respected by his peers in his field of study, when he is mentioned in
the mass media, he is portrayed as a pariah who is a quack.

Has Jensen been unable to publish since 1969?

No.

But do you think that Jensen's experience makes it more likely or less
likely that nonconformist scientists who are interested in subjects
with politically incorrect or taboo overtones will decide to pursue
inquiry into their fields of interest?


Jerry


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: nbc Jeff Jacoby on the looters nbc
    ... > science is constrained. ... > interview study to examine how constraints affect what scientists do." ... >>I was never curious enough to keep up with the controversy. ... Also Jensen's classes at Berkeley were ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: Good place for hard to find TV DVDs?
    ... Keith F. Lynch wrote: ... in which case there was a four-year gap.) ... Well, if you call them Oakland and Berkeley, they're not, but if you call ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)