Being Poor Makes You Stupid

by BizzyBee 31 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  John Doe

  I am not hijacking. And how am I going to get the thread locked?
• 

  Satanus

  Some desperately poor people are actually helped by being jw. The religion provides a structure to their otherwise totally disorganised lives. It brings discipline into the lives of their kids. Discipline, structure and organisation helps people to go through stress eisier. It keeps stress from becoming DIStress. Thus, the intelligence of their children is protected, somewhat, as well as limited as long as they stay in the religion. Once they escape the cult, then they can flourish, even more..

  S
• 

  Simon

  This is pretty obvious IMO and is Maslow's hierarchy of pre-potency ... the ladder of needs that can only be climbed when those lower down are satisfied:

  7.Aesthetic
  6.Know & Understand
  5.Self-actualize
  4.Esteem or Ego
  3.Love & Belonging
  2.Safety & Security
  1.Physiological

  People who are spending all their time and energy on basic survival are never going to be doing much learning and creative stuff and will then not have those skills to pass on to their offspring.

  You can achieve a lot more in life when you have money as you are free to not only learn but also take risks.
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Being stupid makes you poor.

  BTS
• 

  WTWizard

  I wonder if that is why the Washtowel Slaveholdery wants its people to be poor. It keeps them and their children too stupid to think their way out of the cancer.
• 

  snowbird

  No surprises there.

  Mine was a very materially poor childhood: 13 kids and a per capita income of about $1500 - you do the math.

  However, there was the church and school where we could shine!

  I still recall with fondness how one special lady at church always cradled me to her bosom and made me feel like I was the greatest thing on earth.

  Also, there was a teacher at our little two-room school who could make words rise from the pages and tap dance across the classroom floor!

  Somehow, we managed to dodge the bullet.

  Sylvia
• 

  John Doe

  Somehow, we managed to dodge the bullet.

  Don't know about that--you ended up a christian.
• 

  snowbird

  Yes, a Christian.

  Hallelujah.

  Be quiet, you old treacherous goat!

  Sylvia
• 

  Sad emo

  I'm not convinced that the findings can be that clear-cut.

  There are rich people who are stupid too, and there are some incredibly bright poor people - my dad was such, grew up homeless, virtually peniless but like Sylvia, he shone at school - so much that he was offered a scholarship with the top university in his home country.

  I think there are more factors to be considered, largely an individual's capacity to cope with stress, which I don't believe is solely down to economic/social status - perhaps Maslow's theory in Simon's post is a good measure. People from all walks of life often don't make it past the 2nd or 3rd stage.
• 

  snowbird

  there are some incredibly bright poor people - my dad was such, grew up homeless, virtually peniless but like Sylvia, he shone at school - so much that he was offered a scholarship with the top university in his home country.

  Amen.

  Sylvia