[quote=thejard]NPR talked the other day where some study was done back in the 90s where they took lower income folk and moved them to middle income areas.
They had hoped the kids would do better and the adults would too. They largely found it didn’t.
HOWEVER, looking back at it from a different question: what is the impact on kids when moving to better schools at different ages. Age 13 was the key
So, just make sure the kiddos are in a good school by Junior High :)[/quote]
Frankly – I suspect that one of the things that makes people successful is a flavor of anxiety that it soothed by study, work, whatever (but does not respond to alcohol – if it did, they would probably have a high rate of alcoholism). And I think this is passed down. I have lived and studied in various places – it seems to me the high achievers often have something short of an anxiety disorder. For example, I routinely receive school emails sent at 2:00am about what I would call minor issues; the mothers around here are so afraid of their children gaining weight that they compare methods of preventing their children from eating their Halloween and Easter candy. This is in a school where I would estimate the rate of children being overweight is no more than 1%.
So – the low income folk you mention who were moved in next to these people would probably not enjoy it, and would be unlikely to “join in.” There would probably be some who had the same nervous tendencies who never had the opportunity to get ahead, and I’m sure those would do well. I know I sound fatalistic, but I think it’s largely inborn. And those that weren’t born with it drink a lot of coffee . . .
