Can science help poor kids earn more?

The wide gap in development between rich and poor children could be closed with the help of neuroscience. Might a controversial focus on genetics also help? Film supported by @mishcondereya

00:00- The achievement gap between rich and poor kids
00:55 - Words matter in childhood development
03:16 - Conversation can combat childhood inequality
05:09 - Can genetics help close the achievement gap?
07:30 - Genetics can be controversial

[shadarrajames]

I’m unsure how my son and I became the picture of poverty for this film. I am an educator with a masters degree who has completed half the coursework towards a doctoral degree. His dad, my husband, is an IT professional. We are not under-educated or experiencing poverty.

We were told they wanted us to be featured in this short film to talk about the early childhood communication program I signed up for this past summer. The program participants were mostly well-educated, middle class families. This video is deceptive and misleading! (That’s me with my toddler featured throughout the video, but it has been edited in a way that skews the information to fit the producers’ agenda).

[mbaceo]

Stress of poverty is the #1 reason for lack of engagement in learning

[laniianl]

Unless someone is able to explain how genes influence college graduation rate at the molecular level, I personally don't recommend founding a educational system basically on a correlation...

[bestever]

Instead of focusing on genetic tracking they should adress economic inequality and access to universal health and education.

[jonasrla]

About the genetics part, it's never enough to remember: "Correlation is different to causation", furthermore, some genetic traits have some social impact that may cause the result mentioned

[abbaty]

This is fascinating topic for me, but it seems there's a implicit bias for college education and degrees as the only marker for success.

[poppinpussies]

I mean their method just completely disregards all neurodivergent children, that includes those with autism to dyslexia to sensory processing, they all have external factors that affect those children more so in their academic achievements, than typically developing children. Also the fact that a large majority of people in poverty tend to be neurodivergent too is a huge impactful factor they should REALLY take into account.

[catherinemoore]

Can the economy stop creating child poverty? That's the real question.

[fbkintanar]

I have heard that a predisposition to alcoholism is in the genes. This predisposition could be inherited, even if neither of your parents actually became alcoholic. It seems it would be helpful if caregivers and guidance counselors could tailor their interventions with those with such a predisposition. But there are ethical and privacy concerns here as well. And it would be valuable to understand the interaction of genetic and social factors, not just in how people fall into alcoholoism, but also in the effectiveness of various intervention options in their getting out of it.

[victorcampos]

I certainly think genetics can be controversial. However, everyone should remember the complexity of genetics. There’s epigenetics –the influence of the environment on gene expression/supression– and the intricate relationship there’s between multiple genes and certain traits. Also, in the case of obesity at least, after three generations it becomes also a genetical problem.

I believe it just might be useful for tackling inequality. However, we should always bear in mind all these things and not (over)naturalizing inequality.

[MegaSnail]

As with all innovations and data it can be a blessing and a curse. As a teacher I assume that all students have an innate intelligence of some variety and our job as parents and teachers is to cultivate that intelligence while strengthening their weaknesses. Having worked with gifted children I have observed children who are both delayed in some areas and advanced in others. I believe that using a genetic lens may likely serve to classify "academic achievement" while over looking many other adaptive traits which are needed to adapt to our changing environment. Academic achievement is much to narrow a focus to account for the traits needed to succeed as our planet changes. Thank you and please consider these observations accumulated over 50 years of teaching. Be well.

[atenas]

Success is not a sprint or even a marathon but an intergenerational relay race

[fahrizaltaufiqqurrachman]

It's huge problem for developing country... In Indonesia, where student mostly live in village have obstacle to access formal school... Someday, they should swim on river because no bridge, and other cases... Affordability to internet access... Maybe I have to create research on Digital Poverty to respond huge problems 😁

[compassroses]

Poverty can be reduced through policy, and educational opportunities can be improved. However, genetics confers a broad range of inequalities, and innate predispositions cannot be boosted.

[ccd]

These people completely miss the point, basing education on genetics leads to job market signals that would be based on genetics. For instance, if a company were to choose between two candidates one on the special genetic accommodation of the school and the other on the standard curriculum, who do you think the company would hire?

[gabor]

Dr. Robert Sapolsky's videos on this topic are interesting.

[atenas]

The greatest education a child ever hears is the conversation one hears in their own home

[taipeimichael]

I find the use of “graduating from college” and “receiving a PhD” as benchmarks for academic success highly problematic. These terms are thrown out as a given when in fact we need to create additional paths for life success including trade and vocational study.

[Italya]

Amazing video 👏 👏
Please more about that subject 🙏

[lilliansgut]

It’s great that biotech is being funded but no matter what science and tech is done and provided, I believe that taxing the rich, reallocating taxes, and cancelling student debt, along with making community college free and other systematic changes are important pieces of the puzzle.