From Publishers Weekly

Murray, coauthor of The Bell Curve, believes our educational system’s failures stem from the fundamental lie that every child can be anything he or she wants and that such educational romanticism prevents progress. Four simple truths, he asserts, would prove better: children have different abilities, half of the children are below average, too many children go to college, and America’s future depends on the gifted. Murray takes care with his first point, discussing various types of abilities instead of the oft-maligned I.Q. measure; however, he does believe that test scores reflect ability. He argues that there are only a limited number of academically gifted people and these are America’s future leaders, that only this elite can enjoy college productively and that the nongifted shouldn’t be channeled by their high school counselors into training for that college chimera, which wouldn’t make them happy anyway. Further, he argues, if the Educationa (more…)