Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man presents an eloquent, compelling, and at times disturbing critique of various tests of human value. With equal precision he dissects craniometric, morphological, recapitulationist and IQ-based means of racial discrimination, pointing out the logical and empirical fallacies contained in each.

Gould catalogues a history of the movement in its various guises. From Broca’s brain measurements to Lombroso’s criminal "stigmata," racist or sexist attitudes have buttressed by "science." An imaginary hierarchy, with Caucasians on top, followed by "Mongolians," American Indians, "Malays," and "Ethiopians" [Blacks], could be discerned using a variety of methods, and could support racist initiatives in education, foreign policy and law.

Using skewed data, researchers would attempt to demonstrate the supposed superiority of the white race by comparing brain volume (more is better), facial characteristics, bone shape, hair, and a host of other quantifiable physical attributes. Gould goes over the numbers, showing how the interpretation of the data never failed to align with the biases of the researchers due to unconscious (or, rarely, conscious) "fudging"--omission or ignorance of contrary data, refusal to acknowledge outside factors, or downright mathematical errors.

In our day, such physiological or developmental methods of racial classification have fallen into disfavor, and have been replaced by studies in genetics and brain structure. Gould finds these schemes equally spurious, pointing to the absurd XYY controversy as an example. Racial classification is a social construct; current genetic findings (especially the Human Genome Project) seem to support this opinion. As Norman Sauer of Michigan State puts it, "If you were to walk from Europe to Africa, where do you put the line? All of the change is gradual. The lines are historical and political. It’s in people’s minds" (abcnews.com, 2000).

Rather than approach the issue physiologically, others will use the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to show differences between races or individuals--the argument behind recent works such as The Bell Curve. In the longest chapter of The Mismeasure of Man, Gould carefully draws out the history of the IQ controversy, starting with Alfred Binet’s "invention" of a standardized intelligence test, and continuing through its dismantling and "perversion" by Americans eager to apply it socially--H. H. Goddard,

Gould’s work is meticulously researched and carefully argued. He attacks the methods of past researchers on empirical and statistical grounds, quoting extensively when necessary from primary sources. He is careful to point out that his work does not attack the notion of mental testing in general, but rather is a "critique of a specific theory of intelligence often supported by particular interpretation of a certain style of mental testing: the theory of unitary, genetically based, unchangeable intelligence" (40, emphasis in original). Gould also points out that his son’s learning disability was first discerned and clarified by means of an IQ test.

Not only fascinating as a history of mental and physical assessment and racist attitudes in the United States, The Mismeasure of Man also provides invaluable lessons for teachers. First, it demolishes the notion of an innate, unitary intelligence--a notion that can lead teachers to consign certain students to the realm of "unteachable," and to lack surprise when those students fail (Bee 1997). Second, it shows that the scientific enterprise is fluid and should prohibit both dogmatism and faddism. Teachers should be prepare to revise their assumptions in the light of solid research and evidence; likewise, teachers should be loath to latch on to the latest theory of intelligence simply because it is the latest.

Bee, H (1997). The Developing Child. New York: Longman.

Gould, S. J. (1996). The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W. W. Norton.

A question of race.  http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/race_kennewick001006.html