Sorry Lady -- DC Privates ARE filled with gifted kids...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

First, if it wasn't clear from the context, my statement was directed at the US, and was not meant to include outlier situations like Middle East oil economies.

Second, I hope it's obvious my statement was speaking of an average correlation across broad populations. It doesn't suggest a correlation in individual situations. In other words, if a borderline imbecile wins a $10 million lottery, he's not going to suddenly start producing gifted children. (I suppose these situations are analogous to the Middle East situation you described, where a large portion of the population essentially won an oil lottery.)

Third, I think your Saudi Arabia example might not be the right one. I got curious about it, and discovered (with some surprise) that Saudi Arabia actually ranks fairly low on a GDP Per Capita scale that evaluates purchasing power. See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html?countryName=Saudi%20Arabia&countryCode=sa®ionCode=mde&rank=55#sa . Saudi Arabia at #55, while US at #11. But I understand your point, and you could easily shift it to refer to some place like Qatar with similar oil wealth and a smaller population

Fourth, I have not done the math, but I'd guess that even if you do include places like Qatar, my point still stands when you calculate things on a worldwide basis. Or alternatively, if you calculate solely within a place like Qatar, I'd guess that relative wealth might correlate with scores on intelligence tests, for the same reasons I described above. Not everyone is equally wealthy, and I'd guessing that on average, those smart enough to increase their wealth also might pass some of those smarts to their children genetically.

There's probably some actual research on this somewhere, but I'm not curious enough to seek it out right now. Maybe the person who posted giftedness research above has that in her file somewhere.

I'm not an expert on gifted literature, although I know a little about it. I think the advantages from growing up in a wealthy family stem from more than a genetic ability to increase wealth, although there may be some of that too. There's also a social/parenting aspect too - upper middle families give a lot of enrichment to their kids starting when they are babies, because they understand the importance of education for getting ahead, they are deeply involved in the whole competition for the best public and private schools, and they have access to materials (educational "toys" as well as understanding of how to enrich their kids' learning).
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If you're scratching out an existence on your farm or in your junk-recycling business, you wouldn't place much premium on giving your kids a top education. Learning ABCs early, or going to a top school, isn't going to help with making the crafts in your shed for selling to the fair trade cooperative. Besides, it's moot because you can't afford private or to live in the Whitman neighborhood. (And there's the opposite end of the spectrum - Paris Hilton's parents didn't seem overly concerned with sending her to college, because she'll never have to work a day in her life, unless you call that reality show of hers work, but my point is that she didn't need to work. Maybe that's the rich Saudi case, too.)

By this line of argument, the borderline imbecile who wins the lottery could start producing gifted kids--or at least gifted grandkids--unless the family goes the Paris Hilton route.