I think the same education for all is a no-win situation. The electrician who comes to work in my house, who doesn't have a college degree, makes as much as someone w/ a Ph.D. I think it's a fallacy that everyone needs to go to college. I do not think that everyone needs to take Alg II to graduate from high school ... or even Algebra 1 for that matter.

This reminds me of my highschool days. We all had to take a course to graduate....it was an economics course. This class made everyone shake in their shoes. You had to make a C to graduate from high school. There was only one teacher. He was tough. It was known that the blacks didn't do as well in this course. The white kids grew up learning about their parents investment portfolios, had their own stocks, read the Wall-Street journal etc. The blacks (and poor whites I should add) were learning all this for the first time. The teacher expected a lot and he EXPECTED every student to stretch him/herself. But how did he handle this situation? For every test, he had a bank of questions. He hand tailored every single test for every single student. You got 5-6 questions and had to choose 3 of them to answer...one from each category. (not exact on these numbers, this was some time ago). Each student had to give his best effort. That doesn't mean you had to write a stellar essay on the same topic as well as the rich, white boy next to you.....you had to write a stellar essay on the topic that was slightly above your level. You just can't make up for YEARS of access to information in one semester. But this teacher equalized the playing field and gave everyone a chance to do his/her best. If you did that, you passed the class and got your diploma. I guess the short of it is...each kid has his own measuring stick....and if you measured up you passed. And believe me, you had to work hard to pass and many kids had to take his class twice. (I escaped with a B ha ha ha).

And as far as the study that showed 3yr old IQ tests being different among the races.... Other studies have shown the difference in vocabulary development in 2yrs old based on interactions w/ parents. This most certainly comes into play by 3yrs old on an IQ test.

I was just talking to a teacher friend about this. Some kids go to preschool and Kindergarten w/ NO sequencing skills. these kids have issues w/ reading and w/ retelling stories. Many of these kids do not interact a lot with adults on a meaningful level. You just can't test 3yrs old and totally discount parenting style.....even if you control for economics and education level of the parent.

I was fascinated by the study of orphans in another country. Once they were placed in great foster homes, their IQs rose dramatically. When they were returned to their orphanages, their IQs began to drop.

I'm reading the book "The Learning Gap" which looks at the difference in achievement in US vs China and Japan. One of their conclusions is that the US focus on inheritance of IQ is what holds many back whereas Asian countries focus a lot more on working hard as the key factor to success.