I have told you quite a lot about the cultures in which the children in this scenario are raised. They attend school and socialize with other children dominated by particular cultural groups.
If you research demographic studies of educational success by race and ethnicity, you will see I am merely stating fact. I have three children, and I look into such matters when choosing where to live. The statistical results aren't even close. A statement of fact cannot be racist. If you intend to put that objectionable label on me, then at least show statistical evidence I am wrong. An individual is a product of nature and nurture. It is not clear to me which is the greater contributing factor. To the extent nurture is involved, then a child's environment makes a huge difference. Various cultural groups put different emphasis on education, work, family, religion, entrepreneurship, etc. There are individuals who opt out of the collective value set, but statistically what I say is accurate and well established. It is certainly possible that a particular child raised in a black community in urban Detroit will be more successful than a particular child raised in a Jewish suburb of Boston. But if you check the data, you will see that is a highly anomalous outcome. So you need to remove the word "often" from your claim. From: kiddleddee Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 11:13 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Libertarian] Re: Stop the War FOR Terror --- In [email protected], "Bob Giramma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Suppose two children are born on the same day. One is raised in an urban black neighborhood in Detroit. The other is raised in a suburban Jewish neighborhood outside Boston. Can you predict which child is likely to be more successful in life? > > I bet most people will bet on the second child succeeding, and the statistical record is heavily in their favor. The only difference of which we are aware are the comparative cultural environments in which those children are raised. I've told you nothing else about the children in this scenario. __________________________________________________________ You have also told us nothing about the two cultures the two children are to be raised in. You have only told us the racial/ethnic identity of the neighborhoods. Sounds racist to me. In fact, no prediction can be made about the likelihood that a particular individual child will be more or less "successful" than any other child by examining the collectivist circumstances of the neighborhood in which that child is raised - whatever collectivist criteria you want to use. Why is it that many children who are raised in urban black neighborhoods, including some from Detroit, go on to be enormously successful in their chosen fields while many children who are raised in suburban Jewish neighborhoods, including some around Boston, have only mediocre success in those same chosen fields? Why is it that some children who are raised in urban black neighborhoods and some children who are raised in suburban Jewish neighborhoods often enjoy equal or comparable success in their chosen fields? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
