A California high school student has found himself at ground zero of the culture wars over a science fair project that examines racial IQ and the ability to function in an elite educational program.
The controversial study seeks to answer the question of whether individuals of certain races are at a disadvantage to handle the challenging the coursework in an “elite magnet program” in Sacramento.
Officials at the Sacramento City Unified School District are scrambling to engage in damage control after the student responsible for the project became the subject of media reports and the target of accusations of racism.
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McClatchy High School Science Fair Project Tying Race, IQ Sparks Outcry https://t.co/4wLj08FNZR
— FOX40 News (@FOX40) February 10, 2018
Via Sacramento Fox affiliate Fox 40, “McClatchy High School Science Fair Project Tying Race, IQ Sparks Outcry”:
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Sacramento City Unified School District is investigating how a science project correlating low intelligence with racial groups was on full display at a science fair, where it drew outrage from some students, parents and staff.
The project by a Sacramento high school student enrolled in an elite magnet program, titled “Race and IQ,” questioned whether certain races lack the intelligence for the program’s academically challenging coursework.
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The Sacramento Bee, which published the story Saturday, did not speak to the student at C.K. McClatchy High School and is not identifying the minor. The project was on view with others Monday as part of an annual science fair but was removed Wednesday after complaints […]
The program, which was designed to promote cultural awareness and sensitivity, enrolls about 500 students. They include a dozen African American students, 80 Latino students and about 100 Asian American students, according to data provided by the district.
“I think that a lot of people, especially of color, are really hurt and upset by this,” said Chrysanthe Vidal, an African-American senior who is in the program.
The student tested his race and intelligence hypothesis by having a handful of unidentified teens of various racial and ethnic backgrounds take an online intelligence test.
His report concluded that the lower average IQs “of blacks, Southeast Asians, and non-white Hispanics” means they were not as likely as “non-Hispanic whites and Northeast Asians” to get into the academically rigorous program. He said the test results justified the racial imbalance in the program.
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The Sacramento Bee provides additional details, including the inevitable playing of the Nazi card by tying the project to eugenics:
The project that started the controversy was titled “Race and IQ.” It raised the hypothesis: “If the average IQs of blacks, Southeast Asians, and Hispanics are lower than the average IQs of non-Hispanic whites and Northeast Asians, then the racial disproportionality in (HISP) isjustified.”
The project was put on display with others on Monday afternoon to be judged by a team of community members as part of the fourth annual Mini Science Fair. It was removed Wednesday morning after students, parents and staff complained. The science fair was open to students and parents.
The controversial project also included a bibliography and quotes from five books, one a text from 1904 called “The Essential Kafir” that argued South African blacks were intellectually inferior to whites. The term “kaffir” has since evolved into a racial slur in South Africa, where it is sometimes referred to as the “k-word.”
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“I think that a lot of people, especially of color, are really hurt and upset by this,” said Chrysanthe Vidal, a senior in the HISP program.
She said the student who prepared the report has a history of making racist remarks in class. He is described by peers as a boy of Asian descent and a participant in the accelerated Humanities and International Studies program, or HISP. The Sacramento Bee did not speak to the student and is not identifying the minor.
The HISP program is designed to promote cultural awareness and sensitivity. Often, it includes alternative viewpoints on history. For example, one HISP student said that while learning about Christopher Columbus, students also learned about “the Indian genocide” and the perspective of Native Americans on white settlers.
The program currently has 508 students enrolled, including 12 African American students, 80 Hispanic students and 104 who are Asian, according to data provided by the district.
“We’ve clearly not progressed as much as the students want to think we have,” said one freshman in HISP. “It’s just kind of shocking to think someone could enter into that program knowing that is what we are learning about and being so closed-minded.”
The idea of race being tied to intelligence has a long and controversial history and is considered fringe. It is associated with other ideas including eugenics – often euphemistically referred to as “human biodiversity” in recent years – that attempt to tie racial superiority to science.
While the project is indeed controversial, especially at a time when Democrats and the left have set race relations back decades for the sake of electoral gain, the backlash is another fine example of the attack on diverse views in the nation’s schools.
The censoring of the student’s work as well as implying that he is a racist isn’t exactly a move in the right direction for what is billed as an elite program where all students should be open to different opinions.
Or is it just a fear that his hypothesis would be validated? Judging by the actual demographic breakdown of the program in question with only 12 black students, it would seem that the unnamed student isn’t the only one whose work should be questioned.
Regardless, this will soon become a firestorm once those who make their living off of inflaming racial tensions and reinforcing divisions get in on the action.
In these dark days of fear and loathing in America due to cratering race relations, it doesn’t take much to set off those who have come to see phantoms of white supremacy in just about everything.
