Emotional intelligence involves a cluster of skills, including self-control, zeal, persistence, and self-motivation. Every child must be taught the essentials of handling anger, managing conflicts, developing empathy, and controlling impulses. Schools must help children recognize and manage their emotions. Educators should model emotional…

According to Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" (1994), public education cannot alter the economic, social, or political stratification of American society. Intelligence is supposedly being combined and concentrated, and there is no inexpensive, reliable method to raise IQ. Actually, the book justifies the economic status quo and a…

Despite its failings, Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" is valuable for emphasizing cognition as significantly affecting human performance and social achievement; acknowledging human differences; and offering a frightening depiction of contemporary American society. The authors err in reducing intelligence to a stable, immutable IQ score.…

"The Bell Curve"'s racist overtones have caused a furor, but the book's real (equally controversial) thesis is intellectual segregation's economic and political consequences. The authors bemoan this elitist segregation, yet favor industry's use of IQ tests to select workers. By using IQ to measure a person's ultimate worth, they encourage this…

Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" claims that IQ is hereditary and that African Americans consistently score 15 points lower than other racial groups. Coolly received by academics, the book is being warmly embraced by Republican politicians endorsing fiscal austerity and social mean-spiritedness. The book rationalizes a conservative…

The Bradley Foundation paid coauthor Charles Murray $1 million to write "The Bell Curve." This support typifies the highly ideological research favored by conservative foundations seeking to mold public policy. The book's key educational policy recommendation dovetails with Bradley's top educational priority: support for school choice and vouchers…

Profiles two educators with new books about challenge of teaching. Philip W. Jackson, philosopher/professor of education, muses about teaching and quests for knowledge in "Untaught Lessons." In "You Can't Say You Can't Play," kindergarten teacher Vivian Gussin Paley advocates storytelling as way to build more moral world in the classroom and…