[hmschreck]

More and more research is showing that poverty has a severe impact on the brain, and left unchecked it can become nearly unbreakable.

Many of the decisions made by impoverished people are either somewhat sensible for their situation in the short-term (e.g., asking a 16 or 17 year old child to drop out and start working) or are sensible when viewed through certain forms of skewed perspectives (e.g., spending a small windfall immediately because 'that money will just be gone soon anyway'). Children of impoverished parents overwhelmingly learn these lessons, and the stress of poverty is an ever-present part of their lives, so they are often debilitated by it from the very start.

[asdff]

Or perhaps some decisions are just depressingly sensible given the odds of actually escaping poverty. Having your near dropout 16 year old enter the workforce is perhaps a better bet for their future than letting them drop out and associate with malevolent role models who prey on kids like this.