This archive report was first published on 7 December 2019.
Published on December 7, 2019, a biology class in the United States aimed to reduce racism by teaching students about the complexity of traits and the influence of genetics and environment.
Two fictional teenagers, Robin and Taylor, clashed over the significance of genetics in explaining racial disparities in the National Football League and in the worlds of math and science. While Robin believed that genes for athletic or intellectual abilities were the best explanation, Taylor said genes had nothing to do with it.
However, neither was completely right. The class highlighted traits driven by single genes, such as the texture of peas or a disease like cystic fibrosis, but also taught that thousands of variations in DNA influence more common traits like height or IQ.
Students learned that only a small fraction of trait differences between individuals in the same ancestry group has been linked to particular genes, and that unknown factors and the social and physical environment, including health, nutrition, opportunity, and deliberate practice, also influence trait development.
The class also addressed how racism has produced profoundly different environments for black and white Americans, making it impossible to argue that there was a gene or a few genes specifically for athletics or intelligence.
