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"Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that." All of those social dynamics are explainable. Why are sprinters seldom White?

"Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that." All of those social dynamics are explainable. Why are sprinters seldom White? Because fast people in Western cultures participate in the more-lucrative and high-status team sports instead. Why are boys dropping out? Well, African-American boys are punished more harshly for the same behavior, more likely to be diagnosed as learning-disabled and tracked out of regular classrooms, less likely to have their father at home due in large part to racist enforcement and prison terms. White boys aren't dropping out: they are under-performing because they don't have to work as hard to succeed as girls. Why are there mostly white men in the IT industry? I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Computer-Boys-Take-Over/dp/0262050935 http://www.amazon.com/The-Computer-Boys-Take-Over/dp/0262050... It answers your question and it has nothing to do with who the best programmers are. If you can't explain something, maybe you should do more research.

guylhem 14y ago
The social angle for the IT industry is interesting. There is a dynamic of power happening- but it's not the whole picture. The racism based explanation doesn't seems to work - just like for fast people, where you gave a great example: they self select more lucrative and higher status alternatives. Under performing pupils also self select, for failure, but the reason is different : it's based on their own prejudice and a cultural norm saying XX people should do YY. Anyway, in the end people self select in or out - and that's a self perpetrating tendency based on an initial trend for whatever reason. "racist" enforcement and society couldn't do that much damage by themselves. However, cultural norms most certainly could - especially when people believe them. IMHO, the simplest explain is the better.

guylhem 14y ago

The social angle for the IT industry is interesting. There is a dynamic of power happening- but it's not the whole picture. The racism based explanation doesn't seems to work - just like for fast people, where you gave a great example: they self select more lucrative and higher status alternatives. Under performing pupils also self select, for failure, but the reason is different : it's based on their own prejudice and a cultural norm saying XX people should do YY. Anyway, in the end people self select in or out - and that's a self perpetrating tendency based on an initial trend for whatever reason. "racist" enforcement and society couldn't do that much damage by themselves. However, cultural norms most certainly could - especially when people believe them. IMHO, the simplest explain is the better.