"The Bell Curve" by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray has generated enormous debate as a result of its claim that there is a connection between race and intelligence. The essays of this collection respond to "The Bell Curve" in various ways. Taken together, the following offer an antidote to a work of dubious premises…

Most of the chapters in this book grew out of the Conference on the Academic Performance of Minority Children held at Cornell University in 1982. Six hypotheses about minority school achievement are presented. After a general introduction by Ulric Neisser, John Ogbu describes the effects of caste and argues that black school children are preparing…