# Interesting podcast conversation between Sam Harris and Charles Murray (of "Bell Curve" fame) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-podcast-conversation-between-sam-harris-and-charles-murray-of-bell-curve-fame/785052 "2017-04-23T09:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1256
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-podcast-conversation-between-sam-harris-and-charles-murray-of-bell-curve-fame/785052/1256 "2018-04-17T12:17:40Z")
I will respond in more detail later, but that is some serious bullshit to characterize SpEd and reg ed kids as being as different as dogs and cows. They are all kids, on a continuum, with a line arbitrarily drawn at one point. Kids on one side of that line are given a great deal more in resources, but the prevailing paradigm in SpEd is mainstreaming/LRE. Most people in SpEd would find that analogy offensive but also just very poor in descriptive terms. I anticipated someone taking a line like this and specifically tried to head it off in an earlier post. I didn’t think it would be you, though, Kimstu! Disappointing. > [@Kimstu](#): > > AFAICT you are completely misrepresenting the argument you’re disagreeing with. I don’t see anybody at all claiming that black children overall don’t present with a disproportionate amount of cognitive and developmental problems even **before** they come to school. Even though some schools do over-rely on special-needs ed for black children, there is AFAICT no dispute that the disproportion in special-needs requirements exists independently of school policy. Would that this were true. That would mean no expectation that schools equalize test scores (which, yes, include the vast majority of SpEd kids: only the most severely intellectually disabled are granted waivers) between white and black kids. No NCLB, no “Waiting for Superman”, and no me engaging in this argument. I would be free to do what would be much more comfortable: wincing with distaste at anyone rubbing black peoples’ noses in their lower IQ scores. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-podcast-conversation-between-sam-harris-and-charles-murray-of-bell-curve-fame/785052)._