the authors apparently don’t understand that outcomes for children a mix of nature and nurture. America has a caste system of a very porous sort. Offspring of low IQ parents are less likely to be intelligent by nature, likely to live in poverty, likely to receive scant encouragement or resources for learning, have no educated people in their lives, etc. This leads to generations of low performers. Whodathunkit?
I’m all for trying to identify the specific things that hold kids back, and doing something about them. Something as simple as requiring the foundering, unsupported students to attend a 45 minute “homework” session after regular school, with teachers giving one on one help and encouragement would turn some lives around (especially for elementary students — older than that and the habits are likely set).
Getting good grades by studying and working hard is “acting White”.