From: Ifrit (cp005g@mail.rochester.edu)
Date: Sun Feb 25 2001 - 15:24:13 MST
> To your last question, no. In fact, there's no genetic basis for race at
> all. Skin color is genetically controlled obviously, but what I mean is that
> there is no gross difference in the genomes between people of different
> races on the same scale as the X/Y difference in gender. If you were to come
> up with a genetic basis for race, you would have to come up with some very
> complicated rules, like "people with Gene A but not Gene B or C are
> considered this race, unless they have Gene D (but not E)". Race is
> appearance based.
Didn't figure there was. However, I see it as an extremely cultural
'difference', not necessarily disadvantage. Thus far, my experience is
that black people just do not like Math. In fact trends in popularity of
majors amongst blacks are quite similar to the trends amongst women (my
data to support this is just the enrollment of my school and others I've
known who've headed off to college). There's a heavy concentration in
liberal arts fields especially psychology, and if they enjoy science, they
tend towards bio-medical fields.
I'm not really certain this is 'bad'. Any who want to study
math/physics/engineering can easily obtain minority scholarships in such
fields, they just aren't utilized. If the desire isn't there, why push
them into it. Perhaps demographics will even out economically, but for
now, the blacks I know from wealthy suburban backgrounds avoid the
sciences as well.
Cory
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