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I'm trying to do a deeper dive into education and its outcomes on children's life success. This is sort of a rehash on a post i made before. However this time the speaker is Matthew Stewart, who documents the same class differences that Charles Murray wrote about. Particular focus on the 9.9%. These people essentially live in gated neighborhoods with zoning that excludes people with less overall wealth. Much of schooling is funded by property taxes, and so as a result of the 9.9%'s houses being expensive, their schools get more and better funding, but when i took a small look, ive come across information stating that poor and rich schools receive the same funding in many instances, bringing the better schools advantage into question. To be fair, these schools may still hold an advantage in other ways, perhaps they have students that are less disruptive for example. Ive noticed here that there are many who debate this issue as one of the chicken and egg. Is it that the people in the lower class simply do bad behaviors, and thus they are in the lower-class with bad schools, and their children have worst outcomes because of it (or the children themselves are bad, which makes the school bad as well since you have many bad children that disrupt well behaved children's ability to learn), (and vice versa - the higher class simply made the right decisions, and thus their children benefit.) or does already being in poverty cause the bad behaviors/poor schooling? It seems very clear that college education effects outcomes such as higher earnings. But Id like more information on K-12. Mainly because id like to give my offspring the best advantage possible, and select the optimal school district and educational system for him/her. Does this simply not matter as much as we thought previously? Or perhaps there is more in the power of parents to help with schooling, with educational activities such as reading and writing at an early age?
We know it's the former. "Dignified poverty" where there a low incomes but still good behaviour has existed at various times. It tends not to last as children move to other cities. Plus the feds always see those spots as the perfect place to put a bunch of Somalis.
As for helping your children, teaching them to enjoy reading is very good. But the most important thing is their friends. Teens copy their peers. Childhood friendships often last for life.
So if you have infinite choice, I'd recommend sending them to Cupertino High School. The connections they make will carry them through life. They'll grow up imitating and internalizing the behaviours of high functioning white collar workers.
But fundamentally "one bad apple spoils the whole barrel" is true. Make sure your child has a friend group who is on the right track.
Nah, dignified poverty only exists in poor countries or at poor times. In a very rich country like the US, being poor but having good behavior (timeliness, basic propriety, a work ethic) gets you at least into the lower middle class. Dignified poverty probably exists in Afghanistan or Cuba.
I think this certainly was true, but with the rise in housing prices, I’m not sure it still is today, particularly if a couple wants to have a higher than replacement number of kids.
I suppose that’s a point of contention, but there’s a big gulf between “too poor to raise a family in Manhattan” (say) and “poor”.
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