Kids from rich families are more likely to succeed?

[TSAE]

Studies have shown that children coming from families of the top 10% of income generally had better test scores than children from the the lower 90% of income. Not only do they generally have better test scores, but also are much more likely to get into an elite college. For decades, parents from higher income families spend an exponential amount of money on learning expense for their children. These numbers are only increasing, possibly giving children from lower income families a massive disadvantage.


So my questions to you guys--the US Message Board community--are:


Could the possible increase in educational inequality of children of different social classes be due to the wide economic disparity that we have today between the rich and the poor?


Do you think there should be more elite educational programs for children of the lower class?


Also, what other factors could possibly be involved?


Growing wealth gap may threaten education

BY KYLA CALVERT September 30, 2014 at 3:43 PM EDT

The idea that a college degree is a ticket to a middle-class lifestyle or that a good education can break generations-long cycles of poverty in a family is a lynchpin in stories of achieving the American Dream. But data show education is just one more arena in American life where gap between the rich and poor is widening.


The Associated Press reports today that education spending by the country’s wealthiest families increased their education spending by 35 percent during the economic downturn to $5,210 per child. During the same period, education spending per child stagnated at $1,000 in the other 90 percent of American households.


The extra dollars are going toward expenses like SAT and other tutors, private school tuition, childcare and preschool.


A growing gap between higher and lower-income students on measures like reading proficiency and college completion is already well documented, according to a New York Times report from 2012.


Data showing those trends in 2012 were only available through 2007 and 2008, before the economic downturn took hold.


A report out last year from the Hamilton Project also found a growing gap in the education spending of high- and low-income families.


“The most concerning thing is that there are initial signs that inequality is starting to bleed into social mobility. And social mobility is at the heart of the American experience,” Michael Greenstone, the co-author of the report and an economics professor at MIT told the Boston Globe.

Some Other Good Reads:

Money Makes A Difference, Even In Kindergarten

Inequality among students rises - Business - The Boston Globe

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/e...grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html

 

[Moonglow]

More advanced studies for high achievers and more trade classes for the others...

 

[IanC]

high income has a fair correlation to IQ

IQ has a good correlation to high income

because the correlation of IQ/income is larger than income/IQ the implication is that IQ is more likely to be causitive.


smart parents are more likely to produce smart children because of genetics. smart parents are also more likely to stay married, form households that are cognitively stimulating, and invest more time and money into their children's future. this forms a virtuous circle where smart children are also given the best conditions to succeed.

when you factor in the restriction of range in the OP (top 10% vs the others), you basically guarantee a large disparity of outcomes.

 

[DGS49]

This is one of the stupidest and most clueless threads I've seen here.

The people in the top 10% of income are GENERALLY people who have some exceptional combination of intelligence, talent, and perseverence.

People of high intelligence and talents tend to fine one another and inter-marry.

Many elements of intelligence and talent are inherited.

It would be surprising indeed if their childrens' test scores were anything other than superior to those of the Masses.

And by the way, the idea of "social classes" in the U.S. is largely a delusion. Many poor people were born rich, and vice versa. "Disadvantaged" is a term that is so over-used and so inappropriately-used that it makes me want to puke. Being stupid and/or lazy tends to reap its own "rewards." To say that it is a "disadvantage" is true but pointless. I personally was very lazy in high school and I got lousy grades. Was I "disadvantaged" by my own laziness? Yes, but what's the point?

 

[Katzndogz]

Wealthy families are well educated families. They have an expectation that their children will be well educated. The children are raised with this expectation.

 

[DGS49]

There is a germ of a point here. People who have resources can provide many advantages to their children, not only in school but in other activities as well. They can send their kids to private schools, hire tutors, provide enriched opportunities by sending their kids to learning camps, buying them sophisticated computers and learning software. Outside school, they can get private coaching for athletics, music and art lessons, go on learning vacations, and so forth.

High expectations also play a role. If you are raised with the assumption that you will attend an Ivy League college, mediocrity will simply not be tolerated, and you come to expect more of yourself than someone with a less successful background.

In my own family (poor by most measures), my older siblings were told they might be able to go to college (none of them did), but since I was somewhat less of a fuck-up than my older brothers it was assumed that I would. I did (although with a poor start).

 

[TSAE]

I am not saying this is true, and I expect to see a lot of negative criticism. Whether or not it is, the correlation of the matter cannot be ignored.

I would love a poll vote of your opinion.

 

[OnePercenter]

Money = opportunity

 

[Jackson]

It is mostly about expectations. If you come from a successful family, you expect the children to be successful.

We have all heard about the janitor who made the difference for his son or daughter and said, "You WILL go to college and be the first in the family to do so." There wasn't a question they would because it was expected.

MY son went to college, there was never a question he would, just which one. But none of his friends went to college. We all lived in the same neighborhood with about the same income. Today, he is making a 6 figure income while the others are all struggling. Just one word. Expectations.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Teachers Union is the biggest impediment to education.

 

[OnePercenter]

Teachers Union is the biggest impediment to education.

The teachers that taught you were Union members. Are you having an edumacated problems?

 

[IanC]

a study done on well-to-do, intact families found that IQ had a large impact on the success of the children. higher IQ children get more education, work in more prestigious jobs, etc. conditions are important but so is intelligence.

 

[TSAE]

Thank you for the responses.

 

[Rikurzhen]

Money = opportunity

So you're saying that LeBron James' two kids are going to have better academic outcomes than the kids of a high school physics teacher or even a university physics professor because LeBron earns $20 million per year compared to the mere $60,000 or so that a HS physics teacher earns?

 

[Jackson]

Money = opportunity

So you're saying that LeBron James' two kids are going to have better academic outcomes than the kids of a high school physics teacher or even a university physics professor because LeBron earns $20 million per year compared to the mere $60,000 or so that a HS physics teacher earns?

lol

 

[DGS49]

As for the effects of "expectations," consider the children of teachers. Although there always exceptions, I would bet that the children of teachers do relatavely much better academically than their economic circumstances (middle of the middle-class) would indicate.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Money = opportunity

Hard work = opportunity.