Re: Race, intelligence, and anti-racist prejudice (Was: Genetic Evolution)

J Lopez (jlopez@panix.com)
25 Feb 1995 21:19:59 -0500

In <D4KwIr.9w@nntpa.cb.att.com> gupta@jolt.mt.att.com. (GUEST-Arun Gupta(CUTS)) writes:

>Can someone explain the following statistic, especially those who
>link social outcomes to intelligence :

>Why is it that 17% of the nation's nurses but only 0.8% of the
>nation's dental hygienists are black ?

In my research, I have uncovered five logical reasons why that is the case.

1) Operating the dental x-ray machine requires an advanced form of manual
dexterity. IQ tests have repeatedly demonstrated that black manual dexterity
measures 1.06 SD lower than white manual dexterity. Therefore, for normal
nursing activities, blacks are able to pass muster, but for the specialized
area of dental hygiene, they just don't measure up.

2) There has been some speculation (see Coon's _Genes and Dental
Hygiene_ 1949) that there is a specific genetic locus which affords
Caucasians an advantage at performing general dental hygiene. This arose
out of the fact that the toothbrush, and dentures, were both invented in
Europe. Therefore whites have had more time to evolve a genetic
advantage in performing these tasks.

3) Related to the above, statistical analysis has shown that adult white
females between the ages of 20-30 have an average of 29.2 teeth, but adult
black females only have an average of 28.7 teeth. Whether this arises
primarily from the dental hy-"gene" is unknown. The disparity in visible
number of teeth puts blacks at a significant disadvantage in terms of
having the proper appearance for the job of dental hygienist. (No
dentist wants a toothy assistant, much less one who is missing that .5 of
a tooth right in a conspicuous area of the mouth.)

4) Nursing generally requires a number of years of college, but dental
hygiene generally only requires trade school. Since blacks are vastly
overrepresented in college due to affirmative action, whites suffer reverse
discrimination when it comes to acquiring the college credits needed for
RN certification. However, whites are able to compete on equal footing
in dental hygiene schools...the results are consistent with a race
neutral, IQ-corrected ranking. When affirmative action laws are
repealed, we will quickly see that in all "status" professions, black
representation will drop down to the 0.8% range, which is more in line
with natural, non-"race-normed" outcomes.

5) In the book _The Illustrated Guide to Physiognomy_, Jensen et al., 1978
works with the assumption that dental hygienists wear substantially
tighter uniforms than normal nurses. The resulting loss of blood to the
brain causes a temporary _drop_ in IQ of an average of 14 points. While
this leaves white women with a still workable 87 IQ, it causes black women
to fall into the retarded category, leaving them totally unable, for the
most part, to perform the high cognitive requirements of dental hygiene.
Recheck the stats for male black nurses and male black dental hygienists,
and I think you'll find that the disparity in representation is not
nearly so wide.

-- 

jlopez  ::  "How the hell can you write an essay on E. M. Forster with almost

             total reference to Harold Robbins?"  --Willy Russell