Posted on 04/16/2015 5:12:57 AM PDT by reaganaut1
New research that shows poor children have smaller brains than affluent children has deepened the national debate about ways to narrow the achievement gap.
Neuroscientists who studied the brain scans of nearly 1,100 children and young adults nationwide from ages 3 to 20 found that the surface area of the cerebral cortex was linked to family income. They discovered that the brains of children in families that earned less than $25,000 a year had surface areas 6 percent smaller than those whose families earned $150,000 or more. The poor children also scored lower on average on a battery of cognitive tests.
...
In another study that has been accepted for publication in Psychological Science, a team led by neuroscientist John Gabrieli of MIT found differences in the brain’s cortical thickness between low-income and higher-income teenagers. The study linked that difference for the first time to standardized test scores: Fifty-seven percent of the poor children scored proficient in math and reading tests given annually in Massachusetts, compared with 91 percent of the higher-income students.
...
But James Thompson, a psychologist at University College London, has a third theory.
“People who have less ability and marry people with less ability have children who, on balance, on average, have less ability,” he said. Thompson noted that there is a genetic component to intelligence that Noble and Sowell failed to consider.
“It makes my jaw drop that we’ve known for years intelligence is inheritable and scientists are beginning to track down exactly how it happens,” Thompson said. “The well-known genetic hypothesis has not even had a chance to enter the door in this discussion.”
Charles Murray, a conservative political scientist who argues there is a relationship between intelligence and economic class in his book “The Bell Curve,” said genetics cannot be ignored.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Bad pre- and post-natal care is probably the main culprit. Blaming it on genetics only applies when discussing inbreeding.
It's not the income. It's the parent who doesn't teach the kid how to use his/her brain.
Upper income people are educated by choice, and their kids learn from example. If the parents use their brains, the kids grow up using their brains as well.
It's a family thing - not an income thing.
The Bell Curve nailed it and a lot of people knew it. It was just an “inconvenient truth” at the time.
I guess it still is.
Maybe if they released it again with the title, “A Real Inconvenient Truth”...
Imagine what Einstein could have done had he been born rich!
I blame a lot of it on food choices. Rich people are eating fresh veggies, various proteins and natural grains.
Poor people are eating canned food, low grade proteins, and boxed starches.
The poor should be issued daily rations of Brawndo to help them catch up.
At the expense of the rich, of course.
After all, it has electrolytes.
There is also a strong correlation between IQ and income. Stupid people rarely make a million dollars, barring athletics or music - and then they rarely keep it.
A friend of ours tried to be vegan through her two pregnancies, and the check list of everything you had to eat to get enough protein short of a pound of nuts and multiple soy smoothies was too much - so she cheated and ate cheese.
I worry what happens with those who think supplements and pea powder and wishful thinking are enough to make up for the lack of protein.
"Noble and Sowell have two theories about why poor children have smaller brains. One is that poor families lack access to material goods that aid healthy development, such as good nutrition and higher-quality health care. The other is that poor families tend to live more chaotic lives, and that stress could inhibit healthy brain development."They didn't even dare to mention another possibility--that the parents had smaller brains and passed this genetically to their children, giving them a propensity to remain poor due to lower intelligence and therefore lower ability to earn money. I'm not saying this is likely, but as scientists, they should put all options on the table no matter how politically distasteful, and see where science takes them. Of course, there could even be epigenetic factors in play due to low nutrition, stress, etc. too.
Great, now Obama will call for brain redistribution programs.
And yet recent immigrants' children, who were born in poor peasant areas with likely poor nutrition, tend to do well -- PROVIDED they came from East Asia.
I had a teacher from New Zealand when I was a Special Education major. He would get picture books with no words and ask kids to tell HIM the story, each time from a different character in the book. Just an amazing technique.
Reality: Smart people earn more money.
Liberal dogma: Due to years of oppression, the poor have smaller brains.
They may as well say that black kids have smaller brains because they are black.
In fact adult vegans do cheat every now and then. They just can’t help it because the human body needs some meat. Children don’t have the luxury of that, however; they have to eat only what their parents allow them. I say this from experience of a liberal family member.
The American people have been lied to most of their lives by the schools saying that intelligence is not inherited, but is instead about the “nurturing” a child receives.
Of course intelligence is inherited! Even primitive societies knew this.
Thus the reason throughout history everywhere in the world of a ruling elite who only tended to mate within their own with entry very restricted based on great deeds.
Thus the reason for so much war throughout history. Wars were used to “thin the herd” so to speak, of the less intelligent, while the best and brightest often directed the battles from the safety of a nearby hill. The nobility were often encouraged to have “relations” with the peasantry to also help the process along by sometimes producing a superior “bastard’ child that should it show enough talent and accomplish great enough deeds could earn it’s way into the elite class fully.
Bush’s fault
I know its uncomfortable to think about, but the genetic/physical link to intelligence is real, and it is Strong. It bothers people on both sides of the political isle, for different reasons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.