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And there are actually studies that tie intellectual curiosity to SES. There are differences in how kids are raised. Working-class kids are raised to respect r

And there are actually studies that tie intellectual curiosity to SES. 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.

Alex3917 18y ago
"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.