ROBERT WEISSBERG: Self-Esteem Über Alles.

Even if we politely ignore SAT and IQ tests, most colleges already have elaborate outreach programs targeting talented minority students. It is inconceivable that an impoverished ghetto dweller with 650 on his SAT scores will slip through the cracks and instead head to the car wash. If anything, today’s colleges are overdoing it—admitting marginal black students, polishing them up with summer “bridge programs,” and supplying ample remedial academic help—even creating whole iffy academic programs such as Black Studies to manufacture diplomas.

So why the charade?

Let me suggest two explanations. Obviously, silence regarding these awkward deficiencies helps keep the peace. The poobahs, mucky-mucks, and potentates attending the White House summit know what happens to those who speak truth to power on racial differences in intelligence. Peter Brimelow aptly compared such frankness to loudly farting at a dinner party.

The second explanation largely applies to blacks plus a few whites—cognitive dissonance.