<p>I’m not sure why this OP regarding AA has turned into a discussion about genetics and IQ. First, as far as the Sehpardic/Askenazi question goes, since when is intelligence measured in terms of fame? (From the post above “in fact, almost every famous Jewish scientist or intellectual is Ashkenazi.”) I cannot tell you if this is true or not. I have no idea which famous people are what. I will tell you that a quick Google search turned up 4 Sephardic Nobel prize winners between the years of 1980 and 1997. So with inferior genetics or IQ the Sephardic population is doing just fine. The statement that the conflicts among the Jewish groups is due to differing genetics is a bit of a stretch. You are however correct, there are definitely genetic differences that are apparent in both appearance and the genetic disease Tay Sachs. Dontno, you also say Jews and Asians encourage education simply because they excel at it Based only on life experience I will tell you that Jewish parents both Sephardic and Ashkenazi set education as a priority whether or not they excelled as students. Of course this is not all Jewiish parents but again life tells me this is a safe generalization.</p>
<p>But why is this important with regard to AA. If we take these studies and use them to define ourselves should those who did not win the genetic lottery just drop out of school and sign up for the GRE? Or should standards be dropped for those with lower test scores? It seems dangerous to take this science and use it to chart the courses of people’s lives. Then there still is the question of how reliable are these studies? Even if the tests are designed to take into account cultural differences does this account for differences among test takers? Some may feel like they are taking a test that will determine their entire future while other may be thinking about getting this paper finished so they can move on to whatever else is really important to them. All of that goes back to culture. </p>
<p>So with regard to AA and the OP he has a delemma. (Correct me if I got this wrong Dbate. )He has set education as a priority but because he is black he feels that people just see him as one who has not earned his level of achievement and worse may resent him for taking their spot to a school if they don’t get in. On the other hand he recognizes there are still many black kids who because of their situations still need the extra advantage. Unfortanately it is not possible to have it both ways. There are pluses and minuses to everything. If you are in a position to reap the benefits of the advantage, and if your neighbors see you as an equal, and you get in, and they don’t, they aren’t going to be happy about that. Since there are more and more people like you out there it seems the time has come for the system to change.</p>
<p>Sorry Dontno, this isnt exactly on your side :)</p>