528 Book Reviews

Since social behavior is often a major focus in IEPs and since affective objectives are more difficult to develop than cognitive or psychomotor objectives, this reviewer would have liked to see more than one example of an affective objective included. At a minimum, reference to Mager’s text on affective objectives would have been appropriate. It appears that those areas traditionally most in need of clarification (cognitive task analyses, affective objectives) still receive the least amount of coverage.

The chapter on nondiscriminatory evaluation also is weak in the area of non- discriminatory measures, perhaps because there is so little available. In the chapter on current level of functioning, more information on stating performance levels would be helpful to the novice, but is entirely adequate for persons versed in the area.

The majority of appendices are very helpful. The sample curriculum checklists, IEP formats, and seif-instructional package for writing an IEP are detailed and useful. The ones on selecting tests and on tests and suppliers are inadequate. There appears to be lit- tle reason for the tests selected. The authors should either include more comprehensive lists of tests and suppliers or eliminate these appendices.

Disappointingly, no mention is made of the ways in which microcomputers could be used in tracking student progress, documenting parental participation, and generating the IEP itself. Hopefully, this will be included in a third edition.

The above suggestions and criticisms in no way detract from what this reviewer con- siders to be an excellent text that breaks down legal jargon into clearly stated respon- sibilities and discusses the rights of everyone involved in IEP development and im- plementation. Not only is the text clearly written, the numerous examples of IEPs, task analyses, letters, and reports are extremely practical and well designed. This text provides a wealth of information to the IEP novice and an excellent review for those per- sons already very familiar with IEPs.

Sally B. Bing University of Maryland-Eastern Shore

GOULD, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: Norton, 352 pp., $5.95

Gould delivers an all-guns-blasting assault against psycho-biological hereditarianism. He is not above a few character innuendos. Gould, the writer-raconteur, scientist-biologist, and social philosopher with axes to grind [“. . . remember . . . above all our (culture’s) persistent, indigenous racism,” p. 1581, spells out some shady scientific history-history, mind you, not progress:

Science advances primarily by replacement, not by addition. If the barrel is always full, then the rotten apples must be discarded before better ones can be added.

Gould’s drama portrays a succession of orchestrated attempts by known scientific personages to use their data for questionable ends. Gould’s caste of characters, con- sciously or otherwise, stage their proof behind an aegis of scientific respectability to es-

(paper).

(P.322)

Book Re views 529

tablish, once and for all, the biological, innate, unalterable cognitive difference (i.e., deficiency) between genders, races, or even social classes:

This book, then, is about the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups . . . are innately inferior.. . . (pp.24-25)

Pick your favorite target-women, blacks, American Indians, an African tribe-and Gould details another not-so-easily-forgotten page in scientific history. A century of history, of course, traces an entangled route: from Agassiz’s and Morton’s polygeny, to Lombroso’s criminal man, to Broca’s craniology, to the hereditarian IQ binge of Ter- man, Yerkes, Spearman, and Burt right through to Arthur Jensen and sociobiology’s Wilson. All share, according to Gould, a resolute belief in innate differences and little faith in environmental remedies. Gould mixes in enough human intrigue-such as senile Cyril Burt doctoring his data-to assemble a very interesting drama. In short, Gould, the staunch environmentalist, has his day.

Disappointingly, the author’s antidote to unmitigated and unjustified innateness- causes-all is a warmed over rehash of compromised biology: a complex environment in- teracts on a dynamic biological substratum of vast potentialities. I feel that Gould, throughout, is far better at denouncing someone than really helping us understand his position.

Nonetheless, I found his book a good read. Gould is right: science is not value free: Rather, I believe that science must be understood as a social phenomenon, a gutsy, human enterprise, not the work of robots programmed to collect pure information. (P.2 1 )

Science, once dressed in trendy and stylish statistical garb, can be marshalled to support a surprising range of socio-political policy. Once spruced up, science-turned-public- policy can affect multitudes horrendously. That obvious realization brings us to the main act: the reification of human intelligence.

Reification is not simply another logical error; it is also a blatant misuse of social science data. Great masses of numbers and charts-the kind that even a small computer can spit out in a minute-grant the statistical concept of intelligence a false, ephiphenomenal life. But, then again, being the deferent souls that we are taught to be in the face of science (especially what we do not understand), some of us just act as if the emperor is well clothed. But, and this is nearly guaranteed, if we play the charade well enough, the king is apt to catch pneumonia. And it is pretty difficult to hide a sick man.

Don’t be fooled. The reification of intelligence has also made children feel sick, or defeated, or permanently misdirected. (Please note that Gould does not always offer a balanced portrayal. Some scientists, even early on, saw right through the razzle-dazzle.) Nonetheless, legions of children have been measured nearly to death by armies of psychologist-types, all the while being harassed, frightened, and labeled for life. Children were victimized and made to feel morally deficient. “What’s wrong with you?” the paren- tal admonition reverberates mercilessly and pointlessly and surely becomes, “What’s wrong with me?”

Gould is right again: A carefully balanced environmental-genetic view is in order. The prudent judgment of Solomon, certainly not the pedagogical rashness of a freshly- credentialed school psychologist testing anything that breathes, is always the wiser choice when faced with measuring man.

5 30 Book Reviews

True, Gould helps us to highlight historically some horrendous deeds, but he isn’t much help in discriminating junk from jewels in current science. So, educators and psy- chologists are no longer feeling head bumps, or measuring cranial capacity, or even blanketly administering IQ batteries to assess cognitive worth. Yet, what are we doing today, in the blessed name of rigor and purity, that will seem in retrospect equally bizarre? Why is it so difficult to see ourselves?

William E. Roweton Chadron State College, Chadron, Nebraska

BUSH, R. (1980). A parent’s guide to child therapy. New York: Delacorte Press, 340 pp., $1 1.95. This layman’s book provides parents with information needed to determine if men-

tal health treatment is needed for their child or adolescent and how to go about getting the appropriate helping professional. Disorders of childhood and adolescence are out- lined, with an emphasis on normal vs. maladaptive conditions.

Bush attempts to answer questions a parent may have so that the parent can deter- mine if the child needs psychological or medical treatment. For example, he explains the difference in training between psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, and ex- plains which disorders need psychological help. He tells parents what to expect when tak- ing their child to the specialist (such as a formal evaluation, medication, or hospitalization). He even explains the various types of therapy, including behavioral, psychoanalytic, etc.

Facing the dilemma of whether your child needs help is difficult. The book acts as a reassuring guide for concerned parents who are shy about taking the first step in seeking professional help. It is simply written and will appeal to literate parents who like to read “how to” books, in this case how to decide to get professional help and then to whom to turn.

Discussion of special education services in schools is vaguely and briefly discussed. Also, the author simplifies some topics either to keep wording brief or to explain simplistically. Yet, the book is too lengthy (340 pages). Some chapters could be eliminated, while others could have been either expanded or rewritten to be succinct, yet more focussed. For example, Bush discusses the major schools of psychotherapy in 25 pages, and this reviewer feels this topic could be made briefer. Overall, the guide book would be a useful aide for parent discussion groups or as a quick reference for teachers, counselors, and other school personnel.

Jody A. Gilberg Texas Department of Corrections, Huntsville