THE EQ FACTOR

GREAT EQ PIECE! SCIENCE AND REASON can fumble their way toward truth [COVER STORY, Oct. 2]. But emotions are not the true measure of human "intelligence." They are related to something deeper that the article suggests but doesn't choose to emphasize; it's right when it says we're not comfortable with concepts like character, heart and morality. It is our moral nature that makes us human. To the degree that we are true to that moral sense, we are intelligent and have the great emotional skills discussed. To the degree we resist it, we are conflicted and wrapped up in the negative emotions. And, no, dear scientific colleagues, all behavior is not reducible to biology. DAVID DUERDEN Family Science Department Ricks College Rexburg, Idaho

RATHER THAN LOOK FOR A CART AND A horse, we should realize that EQ and IQ are two sides of the same coin. It comes as no surprise that emotionally well-adjusted people tend to have high test scores or that those with intelligence and problem-solving ability have a high EQ. The growing disdain for test scores is a dangerous trend. Is crying at the end of Forrest Gump more valuable to society than knowing when World War I occurred? Arguments based on emotion have resulted in the shrill and hysterical nature of discourse in the U.S. JOE HARDY Memphis, Tennessee

YOUR THOUGHT-PROVOKING ARTICLE ON the EQ factor falls into the very pit it attempts to avoid. The question should not be "Why the smartest kid in the class will probably not end up the richest," but "Why the smartest kid will probably not end up the happiest." Success today is measured by money, something as quantifiable as IQ. Happiness is more like EQ: vague, but you know if you've got it. JULIEN OLIVIER Barrington, New Hampshire

EMOTIONAL LITERACY SOUNDS LIKE THE latest excuse for schools and employers to invade the psychic privacy of students and employees. FELICIA ACKERMAN Providence, Rhode Island

IS EQ A NEW TAKE ON SOCIAL DARWINism? I despise the idea of training the young to be emotionally efficient little robots. Backers of EQ seem to imply that parents should supplement their kids' daily intake of vitamins with Prozac to ensure their success. The liberty to obey the caprices of our emotions, no matter how politically incorrect, should be one of the few bastions of freedom we allow ourselves to defend. SADIA SHAH Colleyville, Texas

GREAT ARTICLE ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIgence and its implications for education. But at our school we take the concept further and teach self-management of thoughts and behaviors as well. Some professors refer to this as S-M Q, and you can just imagine what the fantasies of college students do with that "Q"! EDWARD J. O'KEEFE Professor of Psychology, Marist College Poughkeepsie, New York

EQ, LIKE IQ, SHOULD NOT BE LOOKED on as a legitimate indicator of success. For one thing, defining EQ is difficult and subject to error. So imagine how susceptible to bias measuring it is. Something so open to misuse should not be given much credibility. JANET LEE Tarzana, California

ONCE AGAIN, GOOD OLD INTELLECTUAL ability has been repackaged and marketed as a "new" kind of ability. The "high EQ" children and the other "emotionally intelligent" people in your story can also be construed as highly efficient abstract thinkers (which is underscored by the high SAT scores of the "high EQ" children). Abstract thinking is a quality central to the notion of traditional intelligence. IQ scores have for decades been known to be the best predictor of educational and occupational achievement, and as long as intelligence continues to be a dirty word in this society, psychologists who like to make a quick buck will take advantage of people's eagerness to hear that it can be replaced with a more politically correct term. ASTA BJARNADOTTIR St. Paul, Minnesota

WE AT THE RESOLVING CONFLICT CREatively Program could not agree more with your statement that "nowhere is the discussion of emotional intelligence more pressing than in schools." Kids are coming to school more frightened and angry than ever before. While we acknowledge that educators alone cannot counter all the influences society places on children, schools are still a central place where kids can learn how to handle their emotions, deal with conflicts and face difficult issues. LINDA LANTIERI, Director Resolving Conflict Creatively Program New York City

MANIFESTO ON RACE

AS A PERMANENT U.S. RESIDENT OF INDIan origin, I am outraged and discomfited by the half-baked racist ideas espoused by Dinesh D'Souza [DIVIDING LINE, Oct. 2]. Unfortunately, his views are not uncommon today among whites and Asians, conservative and liberal. The open espousal of views expressed by The End of Racism and The Bell Curve should lead to a joining of the issue by the silent and sane majority. Perhaps we can charitably hope that such debate is what Mr. D'Souza and his ilk really want? Nah! UMA KOTAGAL Cincinnati, Ohio FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE AS AN Indian in America, I feel ashamed of a fellow Indian, Dinesh D'Souza. It is tragic that a land that can boast a thousand Mahatma Gandhis has to bear the shame of producing someone like him. ASHIMA K. KODALI Fremont, California

JUST WHO IS JACK E. WHITE, AND WHAT are his credentials? He calls D'Souza's book half-baked and small-minded. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a prominent black economist writing in Forbes, said it is "must reading." I think I'll read the book and boycott small-minded reviews in TIME. MARK WARDA Clearwater, Florida GLOBAL WARMING ON THE WAY?

I APPLAUD MICHAEL LEMONICK FOR reluctantly conceding [SCIENCE, Oct. 2] what many scientists and any others with intuitive sense have known for 20 years: that our industrial society dumps crap into the air, which causes the earth to heat up, which is going to wreak havoc. The refusal to believe our way of life could be the instrument of our destruction may have been pierced ever so slightly now that "a respected U.N.-sponsored body made up of more than 1,500 leading climate experts from 60 nations" has deemed that "human activity" might have something to do with global warming. STEPHEN WALLACE Palo Alto, California

YOUR ARTICLE ON CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN insult to the mainstream of scientists who have studied the issue. Yes, there are uncertainties as to the magnitude of cause and effect. And yes, there is some disagreement on specific rises in temperatures and rainfall. But to just throw up your hands and say it is too late to do anything will only allow the preventable to happen. HOWARD MEAD Cinnaminson, New Jersey

THE EARTH HAS ALWAYS HAD ITS OWN agenda. Literally thousands of sea-level changes and life-form extinctions occurred prior to human existence on this earth. The earth will continue to change, with us or without us. BRONWYN CLEAR Richardson, Texas Via E-mail

I HAVE JUST LEARNED THAT GLOBAL warming might cause sea levels to rise as much as three feet by the year 2100. With only a century to prepare, how will we ever survive such a catastrophe? Of course, that is the extreme worst-case scenario, so I may be overreacting. Perhaps I should just go back to worrying about overpopulation and rapacious development, which, if allowed to continue, will surely turn our battered planet into a toxic wasteland to which inundation would come as a blessing. DOUGLAS E. SHERMAN Brighton, Massachusetts

WHEN TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES TO THE point that weather can be accurately predicted more than five days in advance, I may start to get concerned about global-warming predictions. JAMES P. DICKERSON Winston-Salem, North Carolina

DISHONOR IN THE RANKS

I FIRMLY BELIEVE THOSE SERVICEMEN who brutally raped the 12-year-old girl in Okinawa should be held fully accountable for their actions [JAPAN, Oct. 2]. The smoke screen of the Status of Forces Agreement only intensifies the embarrassment of the American people for the behavior of their military personnel. How can anyone with a conscience tolerate such a defense? What are the obligations of the U.S. military when stationed on foreign soil, and why aren't those obligations being enforced? In their blatant and callous disregard for human decency and proper military behavior, the servicemen waived their right to protection under the agreement, and should be held accountable to the laws of Japan. The arcane postwar agreement should no longer protect them. Their confession should serve as their indictment and as grounds for a court-martial and a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. military. MARIE-EILEEN ONIEAL Lowell, Massachusetts Via E-mail

I AM ASHAMED FOR MY COUNTRY AFTER reading about the rape of the young girl in Okinawa by U.S. servicemen. Those who commit such brutal crimes should be put to death, but men in my country commit rapes in frightening numbers because the penalty is laughable. LISA TUCKER Kingsville, Texas

THE FUROR OVER THE RAPE OF AN Okinawan girl should be tempered by the realization that since the end of World War II the number of crimes by our servicemen has been far outweighed by their many, many acts of decency and humanitarianism. HUGH F. O'REILLY Ewa Beach, Hawaii

AS AN OKINAWAN, I WAS OUTRAGED BY the rape of the young Okinawan girl by American servicemen. The incident only symbolizes the immense injustice the Okinawans have suffered over the years by both the Japanese and the American governments. MAYUMI SHINJO New York City