From the BBC, a news item which shows that children from poor backgrounds are half as likely to succeed as those from more comfortable homes
Quote:
Little progress has been made to close the achievement gap between rich and poor pupils, official figures show.
Children from poorer homes eligible for free school meals in England are almost half as likely to get good GCSE results as pupils from richer homes.
Nearly a third (32.6%) of poorer children get five good GCSEs compared to 60.7% of more affluent children, against a national average of 56.9%.
The achievement gap narrowed 0.9 percentage points on last year.
In 2005, some 29.9% of pupils on free school meals achieved five good GCSEs compared with 58.9% of pupils not eligible for the means-tested benefit in schools.
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I don't know if the situation is the same in America as it is here. But the reality is, certainly in the UK, if you are from a poor home, you are more likely to suffer a poor education, be brought up in an environment which doesn't promote learning and leave school with fewer qualifications than you otherwise might. You are also more likely to be brought up in an environment which has a culture of low expectations. That some people have low expectations in life is not merely an indication that they are too weakwilled to succeed.....it may be a factor of their upbringing. There are a good many hidden ways in which the poor are disadvantaged from a young age.