Learn from three success stories

Rising above IQ
Nicholas Kristoff

In the mosaic of America, three groups that have been unusually successful are Asian-Americans, Jews and West Indian blacks -- and in that there may be some lessons for the rest of us. Asian-Americans are renowned -- or notorious -- for ruining grade curves in schools across the land, and as a result they constitute about 20 percent of students at Harvard College. As for Jews, they have received about one-third of all Nobel Prizes in science received by Americans. One survey found that a quarter of Jewish adults in the United States have earned a graduate degree, compared with 6 percent of the population as a whole. West Indian blacks, those like Colin Powell whose roots are in the Caribbean, are one-third more likely to graduate from college than African-Americans as a whole, and their median household income is almost one-third higher.

These three groups may help debunk the myth of success as a simple product of intrinsic intellect, for they represent three different races and histories. In the debate over nature and nurture, they suggest the importance of improved nurture -- which, from a public policy perspective, means a focus on education. Their success may also offer some lessons for you, me, our children -- and for the broader effort to chip away at poverty in this country.

Posted by Jeff Henriques at June 10, 2009 7:47 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas