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This is by far the best article I've read about this study. Thank you for sharing. What most interested me was this quote about white children. "These children

This is by far the best article I've read about this study. Thank you for sharing. What most interested me was this quote about white children. "These children did not inherit college expectations. But they inherited job networks." I can verify this phenomenon using anecdotal evidence, where poor white children are expected to learn their parents' (generally their father's) crafts but not expected to learn anything beyond that. While my own college-educated parents passed down their respect and appreciation for learning to me, I saw some of my childhood friends' parents pass down their mistrust and apathy towards learning to my friends. I was not surprised when I came back from college one spring break and learned that one of my old friends (white, poor, no college, terrible home life) was currently on the lam for killing a teenager over a drug deal. I was shocked by the fact that I wasn't at all surprised. What bothers me more is how I can't relate to how hard life must be for this old friend, and especially how hard it is for primarily black children who inherit little but discrimination, through anything but anecdotes. I think this is more "friend guilt" than "white guilt." No one wants to see people they care for, or once cared for, victimized by systems beyond their control. Therefore, based again on my own anecdotal evidence, I'm glad this study continues to receive attention.

danso 12y ago
> What most interested me was this quote about white children. "These children did not inherit college expectations. But they inherited job networks." I can verify this phenomenon using anecdotal evidence, where poor white children are expected to learn their parents' (generally their father's) crafts but not expected to learn anything beyond that. What a coincidence that I was just re-watching the second season of "The Wire", which focuses on the white side of Baltimore, albeit the low-privileged stevedores. From a scene: http://www.siliconvalleyfrogs.com/thewire/ep20.html http://www.siliconvalleyfrogs.com/thewire/ep20.html SOBOTKA: Your son... The oldest one, he goes to what school? DIBIAGO: Jason's at Princeton. SOBOTKA: Princeton. And after he graduates he's gonna do, what? DIBIAGO: Whatever he wants. SOBOTKA: Right, you sent him to Princeton to do whatever the fuck he wants. You know, back when we was kids, Danny Hay's father stole a case of cognac off a ship. 'Cept when he gets it home, it ain't cognac, it's Tang. DIBIAGO: Tang? SOBOTKA: Just invented. TV was saying it's what the astronauts drank on their way to the moon. You drink it, well... DIBIAGO: You could be an astronaut too. SOBOTKA: All summer long, that shit was all the hare kids drank, Tang with breakfast, Tang with lunch, Tang when they woke up scared in the middle of the night. What do you think they grew up to be? Stevedores. What the fuck you think? Something tells me Jason Dibiago will grow up and squeeze a buck the way his old man did.
delinka 12y ago
"...inherit little but discrimination..." And also mistrust and apathy towards learning. Our societal problems transcend race because we have cultural problems at the lower end of income. Those cultural problems are self-perpetuating regardless of one's genetic make-up. When you're poor, it's easy to be resentful of those who aren't; it's easy to pass resentment and mistrust on to your children; it's easy to just do whatever might make life a little less miserable at the moment (instead of thinking of long term consequences.) And any of us are susceptible to behaving this way if we become poor. For those of us fortunate enough to leave that all behind and become successful, it's easy for us to forget how hard life once was and how to relate to those who are less fortunate.
- ef4 12y ago
  > And any of us are susceptible to behaving this way if we become poor. Any of us would behave the same way if we were born and raised poor. But becoming poor is different. It doesn't strip away all the culture and education your family already possesses. This happens all the time for immigrants. Plenty of families come to the US with almost zero assets. But the ones who have the benefit of education and a culture of aspiration don't stay poor, and their children vastly outperform the intergenerational poor.
- smtddr 12y ago
  >>When you're poor, it's easy to be resentful of those who aren't; it's easy to pass resentment and mistrust on to your children To clarify, there can be legit reasons for that resentfulness they hold. I'd argue the current construct of society definitely gives the appearance(or just out-right, _is the fact_) of well-to-do people benefiting from the poor. The War on Drugs is at least one of those systems.
  - yummyfajitas 12y ago
    How does taxing the wealthy to pay for the war on drugs allow the well-to-do to benefit from the poor? This idea makes little sense. It may hurt the rich less, but it hardly benefits them. "For one thing, most of our very poor don't work, which makes it hard to exploit them." - Paul Krugman

danso 12y ago

> What most interested me was this quote about white children. "These children did not inherit college expectations. But they inherited job networks." I can verify this phenomenon using anecdotal evidence, where poor white children are expected to learn their parents' (generally their father's) crafts but not expected to learn anything beyond that. What a coincidence that I was just re-watching the second season of "The Wire", which focuses on the white side of Baltimore, albeit the low-privileged stevedores. From a scene: http://www.siliconvalleyfrogs.com/thewire/ep20.html http://www.siliconvalleyfrogs.com/thewire/ep20.html SOBOTKA: Your son... The oldest one, he goes to what school? DIBIAGO: Jason's at Princeton. SOBOTKA: Princeton. And after he graduates he's gonna do, what? DIBIAGO: Whatever he wants. SOBOTKA: Right, you sent him to Princeton to do whatever the fuck he wants. You know, back when we was kids, Danny Hay's father stole a case of cognac off a ship. 'Cept when he gets it home, it ain't cognac, it's Tang. DIBIAGO: Tang? SOBOTKA: Just invented. TV was saying it's what the astronauts drank on their way to the moon. You drink it, well... DIBIAGO: You could be an astronaut too. SOBOTKA: All summer long, that shit was all the hare kids drank, Tang with breakfast, Tang with lunch, Tang when they woke up scared in the middle of the night. What do you think they grew up to be? Stevedores. What the fuck you think? Something tells me Jason Dibiago will grow up and squeeze a buck the way his old man did.

delinka 12y ago

"...inherit little but discrimination..." And also mistrust and apathy towards learning. Our societal problems transcend race because we have cultural problems at the lower end of income. Those cultural problems are self-perpetuating regardless of one's genetic make-up. When you're poor, it's easy to be resentful of those who aren't; it's easy to pass resentment and mistrust on to your children; it's easy to just do whatever might make life a little less miserable at the moment (instead of thinking of long term consequences.) And any of us are susceptible to behaving this way if we become poor. For those of us fortunate enough to leave that all behind and become successful, it's easy for us to forget how hard life once was and how to relate to those who are less fortunate.

ef4 12y ago
> And any of us are susceptible to behaving this way if we become poor. Any of us would behave the same way if we were born and raised poor. But becoming poor is different. It doesn't strip away all the culture and education your family already possesses. This happens all the time for immigrants. Plenty of families come to the US with almost zero assets. But the ones who have the benefit of education and a culture of aspiration don't stay poor, and their children vastly outperform the intergenerational poor.
smtddr 12y ago
>>When you're poor, it's easy to be resentful of those who aren't; it's easy to pass resentment and mistrust on to your children To clarify, there can be legit reasons for that resentfulness they hold. I'd argue the current construct of society definitely gives the appearance(or just out-right, _is the fact_) of well-to-do people benefiting from the poor. The War on Drugs is at least one of those systems.
- yummyfajitas 12y ago
  How does taxing the wealthy to pay for the war on drugs allow the well-to-do to benefit from the poor? This idea makes little sense. It may hurt the rich less, but it hardly benefits them. "For one thing, most of our very poor don't work, which makes it hard to exploit them." - Paul Krugman