Narrowing the academic achievement gap is high on the list of the Obama administration's priorities. As a result, it's only a matter of time before the debate begins anew over the role intelligence plays. If the past is any guide, however, ideology will once again eclipse science, making it exceedingly difficult for voters to sort out the findings.

The latest to enter the controversy is Zhao Bowen, often described as China's Bill Gates ("A Genetic Code for Genius?" The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 16). In the belief that the genetics of intelligence have been largely ignored, Bowen's BGI, a private company partly funded by the Chinese government, is using more than 100 gene-sequencing machines to decipher about 2,200 DNA samples from America's brightest people. He intends to compare the genomes of ultra-high-IQ individuals, including those with top SAT scores and those with doctorates in physics and math from elite universities, with the genomes of people drawn from the general population.

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