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by rayiner
1412 days ago
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You’re using SES as a proxy for cultural factors. My uncle immigrated to Toronto and never managed to get a real job. He tutors kids in the local low income immigrant community in math. Those kids are prepping for standardized tests. By contrast, my wife’s mom lives in a lower middle class city on the Oregon coast. Most of these people have been in America for 200+ years, and they’ve been poor the whole time. They don’t study for the SAT. I’ve been utterly shocked at how blasé they are about their own economic status. The folks like my wife who are exceptional leave and go become high SES somewhere else. Many other kids are smart and just dragged down by the local culture. I don’t think we understand structural poverty. I think in part that’s because we focus on income alone, and race, but not on factors like subculture. The secret to unlocking the mysteries of structural poverty involve figuring out why white people in Oregon or West Virginia are poor while folks like Mormons managed to build solidly middle class societies despite persecution and moving to the middle of nowhere. |
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