'Intelligence' and Race (was Re: Invention of the white race // Rakesh on eugenics)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Charles replies to Justin:
<<I agree that if you are doing studies, there is a need to operationalize
the measures. But "intelligence" has too important a meaning in valuing
people to allow the limits of ability to measure to limit the application
of the word to people's abilities.>>

In my view, there is no need to test 'intelligence' or even to posit such a
category. What's the point of inventing and measuring it, except that
administrators might want it for the purposes of educational sorting and
hierarchizing with an appearace of scientific objectivity and that
'intelligence' business helps to shore up the ideology of meritocracy?

Further, why even _ask_ questions such as, 'Do different races have
different levels of intelligence?' I think that racism is inherent in
questions like the above.

Yoshie