Thoughts on race and IQ

Brunsli's post about race, or ethnicity if you prefer, and IQ got me to thinking about some things (if only I could figure out how to link to her post). I took a grad student seminar on prejudice and stereotyping a few years ago and it was a tough semester for me partially because I'm the only black person in my entire psychology department. That's approx. 150 graduate students across all of the psychology programs, 25 full time tenure track faculty and just me. I grew up in a town in CT that was 3% black and went to UConn so I've been used to it for a long time but this class was different.

I remember one article in which a professor was describing a method he used for improving students' exam grades. I believe he allowed students to see him if they did not perform well on exams and then he would talk them through a logical path of reasoning so that they would eventually increase their ability to think critically. I specifically recall the statement that this procedure largely benefited the black students in his course who were failing at an alarmingly high rate in the years before he started using this procedure. On the one hand, it's commendable that this professor wanted to do what he could to help the black students in his class. On the other hand, I have a problem with research that makes it seem as though "Blacks are just as smart, they just need a little extra help." Perhaps this is true for some blacks (and some whites and some hispanics and some asians) but I think it's a quick jump to "Blacks need extra help to compete on the same level."

I did a summer research program at Howard Univ. and all of the other girls in the program were from historically black colleges. I got into this debate once with one of the girls where she asked me how I knew that the reason I was doing well in college wasn't because I was getting special/ extra attention because of my race. That was an easy answer for me-- I never went to office hours, I had classes with 40-300 students, and in more than one class, I was the only student who had perfect scores on every homework and exam going into the final. But I see why people go to HBCUs. I have always been confident about my academic abilities but for some other students who aren't, this question might surface of "Am I getting by on my merit or am I getting by because this professor wants to see the black students do better?" When I finally finish my doctorate and go on the job market, I know this question will be in my head of "Was I hired because I deserve the job or am I an easy way to get a woman and a minority in one hire?" It's unfortunate that we're put in this position of constantly having to question our abilities.