Chapter 1, Cognitive Class and Education, 1900-1990, Chapter 2, Cognitive Partitioning by Occupation Summary and Analysis

The United States has spent the twentieth century being the most open society in history. Never have more people had an opportunity to enter a country with such a vast birth of opportunities. But there are forces that work against individual advancement; as higher education becomes increasingly democratized, new obstacles are being placed between individuals. These obstacles will result in greater and harder to overcome division than many older barriers.

The most amazing feature of higher-education in the United States between 1900 and 1990 is that the number of people with college degrees has increased fifteen times. Furthermore, those admitted into college were chosen for their IQ through increasingly effective methods. The most important time period for this growth and IQ tracking was...