The Bell Curve: Meritocracy That Works

SOME people succeed because of fortunate birth, some because of nuggets of good luck they find along the way. But high-level achievement mainly depends on ability. What makes one person more able to excel than another is, of course, partly a matter of upbringing and education, but there is overwhelming evidence that to a considerable extent it is a function of the mix of DNA in one’s genes. People differ from one another along salient measures of achievement not only as individuals but also—though it may be politically injudicious to say so above a whisper—as members of racial groups. Although the spread between whites and blacks is much smaller than the variation within either group, at every level of achievement there is a clear disparity in representation between blacks and whites. The higher the level, the greater the disparity.

Is this the scenario of differential intelligence endowments leading to unequal positions in the American socio-economic hierarchy that Herrnstein and Murray describe at length in The Bell Curve? I think so, although the authors are not as clear as they might be on this point. But no matter; it wasn’t meritocracy in the academy, business, or the professions I had in mind. Rather, I was talking basketball.

LL

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Loren E. Lomasky

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SOME people succeed because of fortunate birth, some because of nuggets of good luck they find along the way. But high-level achievement mainly depends on ability. What makes one person more able to excel than another is, of course, partly a matter of upbringing and education, but there is overwhelming evidence that to a considerable extent it is a function of the mix of DNA in one’s genes. People differ from one another along salient measures of achievement not only as individuals but also—though it may be politically injudicious to say so above a whisper—as members of racial groups. Although the spread between whites and blacks is much smaller than the variation within either group, at every level of achievement there is a clear disparity in representation between blacks and whites. The higher the level, the greater the disparity.

Is this the scenario of differential intelligence endowments leading to unequal positions in the American socio-economic hierarchy that Herrnstein and Murray describe at length in The Bell Curve? I think so, although the authors are not as clear as they might be on this point. But no matter; it wasn’t meritocracy in the academy, business, or the professions I had in mind. Rather, I was talking basketball.