Re:Where the Race Now Begins at Kindergarten
by Alex3917 on Wednesday August 06, 2008 @01:49PM
(#268729)
"There are differences in how kids are raised."
Agreed. The differences come from the parenting styles of high-SES parents, not the money itself.
"I think whatever difference this engenders fades in the mid-teens"
The personality characteristics may or may not fade over time, but by the time kids reach their mid-teens the academic differences between high-SES and low-SES students are so great that most low-SES kids could never get into an elite college. We're talking a reading-ability gap of three or four grade levels, slightly less for math since most high-SES parents don't have their kids doing math over the summers.
There are differences in how kids are raised. Working-class kids are raised to respect rules and follow orders, hence adornments like "the bell" in high school. Upper-middle- and upper-class kids are encouraged, in school, to be creative and critical thinkers.
I think whatever difference this engenders fades in the mid-teens, when the types of people who attend elite colleges tend to develop independent minds regardless of how they were raised.