Wealth creating America's intellectual aristocracy

[packman]

Money ensures their progeny goes to the best schools which in turn opens doors closed to others;

"Intellectual capital drives the knowledge economy, so those who have lots of it get a fat slice of the pie. And it is increasingly heritable. Far more than in previous generations, clever, successful men marry clever, successful women. Such “associative mating” increases inequality by 25%, by one estimate, since two-degree households typically enjoy two large incomes. Power couples conceive bright children and bring them up in stable homes—only 9% of college-educated mothers who give birth each year are unmarried, compared with 61% of high-school dropouts. They stimulate them relentlessly: children of professionals hear 32m more words by the age of four than those of parents on welfare. They move to pricey neighbourhoods with good schools, spend a packet on flute lessons and pull strings to get junior into a top-notch college"

The elite pass on not only money to their children, but the intellectual opportunities. Their wealth plows the field, so to speak, for lucrative careers.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21640331-importance-intellectual-capital-grows-privilege-has-become-increasingly

[valerief]

1. Yeah, but who fights their wars and picks their fruit and trims their hedges?

They couldn't survive without those three things.

[DetlefK]

2. Not at all surprising. The development of a child is simply a matter of neuronal training.

With the right games, the right hobbies, the right environment, the brain of the child gets stimulated to adapt to a complex world. Without that stimulation, the brain simply says: "Meh, why bother? I'm getting along fine."

[jwirr]

3. As we saw with W it takes more than the best schools to be intelligent.

[brooklynite]

4. Isn't this how things have worked for the past 100 years or so?

[Octafish]

5. THAT is why no one signs the articles at The Economist.

Great analysis on Intellectual Aristocracy.

Intellectual capital drives the knowledge economy, so those who have lots of it get a fat slice of the pie. And it is increasingly heritable. Far more than in previous generations, clever, successful men marry clever, successful women. Such “assortative mating” increases inequality by 25%, by one estimate, since two-degree households typically enjoy two large incomes. Power couples conceive bright children and bring them up in stable homes—only 9% of college-educated mothers who give birth each year are unmarried, compared with 61% of high-school dropouts. They stimulate them relentlessly: children of professionals hear 32m more words by the age of four than those of parents on welfare. They move to pricey neighbourhoods with good schools, spend a packet on flute lessons and pull strings to get junior into a top-notch college.

Even if it is a capitalist rag, it is always a great read.

[AngryAmish]

6. This article seems to have written by Chaekes Murray

The Bell Curve guy.