Genes under the microscope
Re “Legacy inscribed on Jews’ genes?” Column One, April 18
The Times makes no mention of researchers Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending having tested their theory by holding other factors -- notably social factors -- constant.
The accepted and probably correct narrative is this: Jews’ limited gene pool for several millenniums has magnified their chances of inheriting genetic diseases. Their higher rates of intelligence, meanwhile, are because of social factors. A greater proportion of Jewish families talk with their young children and inculcate a love of reading, arguing and curiosity.
Imaduddin Ahmed
London
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Your article did not develop the real reason why some groups succeed to a greater degree than other, less privileged groups. Educational opportunities are the key -- not genetic background.
When “underprivileged” students receive more instruction and more study time, they achieve as well as their affluent counterparts. Given equal educational opportunities, all individuals have the ability to succeed through study and hard work.
Ellen Mosher
Los Gatos
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Intellectual prowess may have influenced natural selection among the Jews, but it had much more to do with their high regard for Talmudic study than their being tied to money lending. Finance and brains do not always keep company, as we know from our own recent debacle.
Peter Brier
Altadena
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The Times raises a controversy but misses the point. Whether some groups are taller, wider, blonder or even smarter should be a determinable statistical fact. But the real question is what a society should do when faced with differences among groups.
In the case of intelligence, the article suggests there may be discernible differences among groups. But the size of the difference is very small. Slight differences between groups should not influence the decisions we make about individuals. America has gone down the path of identity politics before. We must guard against that happening again.
Essayist Calvin Trillin may have gotten it right. Commenting on the possibility of getting good barbecue from a white restaurateur, Trillin once joked: “It’s like going to a Gentile internist. Things might turn out all right, but you never know.”
Like Trillin, let’s see the world as it is. Let’s laugh about it. But most important, let’s make sure that we treat each other as individuals.
Tom Persky
Laguna Beach
