The Bell Curve

"In this essay, Lynn Fendler and Irfan Muzaffar argue that the existing critiques of bell-curve thinking ring true for people who believe that the purpose of schooling is to promote a more equitable redistribution of resources in society; however, these arguments do not criticize the law-like character assumed for a bell curve as a representation of social reality." Here the writer points out that the bell-curve has its purpose for equally redistributing resources; however, they believe it is not an accurate representation of social reality.


"In this essay, we do not assume that schools are necessarily institutionsof reproduction, although we do acknowledge that reproduction is one of many things that can happen in schools."  The writer says that schools can often reproduce this curve, but it is not something that people should just assume.


"to undermine the allegedly realist basis for sorting, namely, the assumption that a bell-curve distribution is normal" The writer is agreeing with others that the bell-curve is not an accurate description of the distribution of "normal" in society.