by BizzyBee 31 Replies latest jw friends
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.
Your post illustrates the difference between speaking in absolutes and speaking in generalities.
Be quiet, you old treacherous goat!
Say what?
Poor is subjective.
If you believe that all poor people live on Orchard Street, and that all poor people are stupid, then you've labelled a whole community as poor, stupid and along with that 'unworthy' because the poor are of less value to society. I had a teacher who told me that because I lived in less desirable part of town, that I was stupid, and who then decided that I should be treated as stupid. The class was grouped according to her residential standards of who was deserving of her attention and those of us who were herded into the 'stupid' group, were given little attention except for constant discipline and abuse.
The year prior to that class, I had averaged over 90% - I was an honor student. The year of her class, she passed me with only a satisfactory grade and the following year, my grade was 98/100 at years end.
Being poor doesn't necessarily make you stupid...being treated as stupid, being labelled as stupid, being warehoused as stupid - having people with blatant prejudice and aversion to poverty, all those things go a long way to making you 'stupid'.
This sort of essay makes me thing of all those other essays that are generic...like 'being fat means you are lazy'...'being rich means you are smart'....'being a german means you're a nazi'......
The foundation for success includes many levels of participation and that includes parental guidance and placing importance on education. Those that have less do have more challenges to overcome, and prejudice is just another one. sammieswife.
I think it's NATURE and NURTURE.
Money could assist with the nurturing, if the people raising the children use it for such.
Dr Evans’s and Dr Schamberg’s volunteers were 195 participants in a long-term sociological and medical study that Dr Evans is carrying out in New York state. At the time, the participants were 17 years old. All are white, and the numbers of men and women are about equal.
Phew!
Another bullet dodged!
Sylvia
Learnt is more common in British English and learned in American English.
The Economist is a British publication. Adapt.
I think Simon's got it:
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.
We all know of exceptions, but as a generalization I believe this is true. There are variables such as resilience, innate intelligence, encouragement, nature vs. nurture, and the different kinds of intelligence, etc. For example, some people can kick butt in a test of general knowledge, but do not know how to practically apply that 'intelligence' to earning a living.
The class system tends to reproduce itself from generation to generation. The rich child has a head start, the poor child, a handicap. Most Americans remain for a lifetime in their class of origin, give or take one adjacent class designation.
The Economist is a British publication. Adapt.
I always knew that Brits are morons.
being treated as stupid, being labelled as stupid, being warehoused as stupid - having people with blatant prejudice and aversion to poverty, all those things go a long way to making you 'stupid'.
Well, yes, I think that is the point of the article. These are the things that poor children must endure and by which their lives are shaped.
'being fat means you are lazy'
Not necessarily, but it might mean you are poor. There are strong correlations between poverty and obesity, crime, child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual and neglect), drug use, unemployment, incarceration, etc.
Being stupid makes you poor.
I have to agree. I grew up dirt poor, and I'm doing alright for myself now.
Wuuuuut?
> I grew up dirt poor, and I'm doing alright for myself now.
I would have to agree. When I was a kid I hated the way we always had to budget this or that... how I couldn't get the nice pants (always had to get Wranglers or Lee). I also could only get the cheap ugly shirts.
I remember always wanting to be in a position where I didn't have to worry about paying bills or having to worry about an old broken down car not starting.
I had to bust my ass and make decisions that most of my relatives did not understand. As an example, when I was a kid I told people I wanted to work on computers when I grew up. Everyone, literally, everyone thought I was talking about doing Data Entry work (this is all they had ever aspired to). They didn't understand that I wanted to be the one creating the computer systems that Data Entry people used.
I broke the cycle and am now doing well. I'm certainly not rich, but I don't worry about paying this bill or that bill. I can't go and buy just anything I want. I do have to be frugal, but not in want.
Financially I'm in a good place.
