Inductivist

There is a stereotype of the nerdy Asian or white kid with thick glasses, but research presents a more complex picture of myopia (nearsightedness). Based on three studies of children (most are 11 or under) (here, here, and here), prevalence rates look like this:

Myopia prevalence among children

Chinese (Singapore) 40.1
Indians (Singapore) 34.1
Chinese (Malaysia) 30.9
South Asians (British) 25.2
Malays (Singapore) 22.1
Asian Americans 18.5
Hispanic Americans 13.2
Indians (Malaysia) 12.5
Black African Caribbeans (British) 10.0
Malays (Malaysia) 9.2
Black Americans 6.4
White Americans 4.4
British whites  3.4

So the ranking goes: Asians, Hispanics, blacks, and whites on the bottom--not quite the stereotype.

UPDATE: It looks like the black-white gap reverses by adulthood. More later...

Major Intelligence Gene Tied to Myopia: A Review Jon L. Karlsson Institute of Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland

Data are reviewed which clearly support the conclusion that axial myopia is an inherited condition following a recessive pattern of transmission. Nearsighted persons excel in terms of intelligence, several studies in developed countries having indicated a gain of 7 IQ points over the general population. It also appears that visually normal heterozygous carriers of one myopia gene enjoy brain enhancement, probably of a somewhat lower degree than occurs in homozygous myopes. It is concluded that the proposed myopia gene is primarily an intelligence factor (Mankind Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 3-4, Spring-Summer 2009, pp 280-291).