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Comment by pixl97 | Hacker News Reader

It's unfortunate you are incorrect, statistically speaking.

In general giving people a stable, appropriate calorie diet is the best way to increase IQ over a population. Poverty has a whole lot to do with that.

Next, after you lift people out of poverty you still have the education problem. Uneducated parents don't have educated kids, statistically speaking. The first few years of life, before kids are ever sent to school define a person's learning capacity hugely. Babies that have working parents and have less personal care, less emotional closeness, and less exposure to a wide range of language are going to be disadvantaged to those kids that do.

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I am from London, in the UK.

Pretty much everyone has enough calories (too many in most cases).

As for schools-of course the rich people send their children to much better schools.

Those who can't send their children to local schools. What happens there depends on how bright they are, how hard they work and how committed their parents are to education.

In the case of some ethnic groups there is a strong aversion to educating their girls properly.

None of this has much to do with poverty, emotional closeness or whatever else you claim.

Pretty much everyone has enough calories (too many in most cases). Sure; foods high in sugar and fat have no effects on concentration levels versus healthier food, right?

Those who can't send their children to local schools. What happens there depends on how bright they are, how hard they work and how committed their parents are to education. This is deeply ignorant. What happens when a smart kid is in the middle of a class filled with kids who have no interest in learning? Do you think the teacher will craft a whole special course specific to that kid? Or do you think the teacher will try to get something basic to stick at the lowest level, so almost all the kids get at least something from their education?

What happens when a kid's peers mock the kid for being a swot? How socially integrated is the kid going to be, when all his friends do things in the evenings, and the kid's stuck doing homework and study? Ever heard of peer pressure? Gangs? Do you have any memories of growing up in a state school in a poor area, of the risk of being beaten up if you venture into the wrong area, wearing the wrong uniform?

It's always a pleasure to interact with people who respond emotionally, based on some other issue, than the one that is being discussed, so I congratulate you for your response.

I presume that you're upset with life being unfair, which it most certainly is.

It does not change the fact that lack of calories is not a significant factor in poor educational attainment in the UK.

There are also many reasons for a pupil not getting top grades-but being dragged into gang life by anti-intellectual peers is not one that ranks highly.

More common, in my experience, are boys wasting hours on playing computer games and smoking dope.

As for getting beaten up by entering into the wrong area-I don't see how that stops them from doing their homework in their bedroom.

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