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by jjj123 1583 days ago
Agree with everything you said, but just want to add a couple additional hurdles to even being considered “smart”:

- going to a bad public school because you live in a poor area has ripple effects that may put you in a worse position than some private prep school kid

- if you grew up in poverty, your brain will literally grow differently due to chronic stress, environmental toxins, lack of stimulation, etc. [1].

We pretend like filtering for “smart” is fair, but the opportunity to be smart is heavily weighted by privilege.

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4811314/
1 comments
DoreenMichele 1583 days ago
Years ago, I saw a study that said that there is as much child neglect and drug abuse in rich neighborhoods as in ghettos. Good parents tend to be middle class because, yes, you need to be able to feed the kids adequately etc but you also need to actually spend time with the kids and care about them.

Money can't buy you love.

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jjj123 1583 days ago
It can’t buy love, but it can buy food security, shelter, medical care, and decent schooling.

I’m not saying growing up rich is always easy, but the point is it’s _more likely_ to be easy than if you’re poor.

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DoreenMichele 1583 days ago
Cher once said "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better."

Certainly, all other things being equal, it's generally better to have more resources. But life isn't quite that simple and sometimes the price involved in successfully pursuing money involves a human cost.

If you can have lots of money and also have time for the children and also are a decent person, etc, cool. Some people pull that off.

And some people don't.

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