Some people will say it's a class thing, and that might be partly true, but... A lot of it IS cultural appreciation for education. The L.A. Times just did a piece on a poor, immigrant neighborhood where kids from Mexico and China attend public school. Overwhelmingly the Chinese kids felt pressure from parents to do well in school. Also most of the Latino kids reported that family time was considered more important than homework time. That for whatever reason education just wasn't important to their parents. Amongst turn of the last century immigrant groups the European Jews were driven to educate their kids whereas the Italians and the Irish not so much. The LGBT community is varied. My understanding is that gay and bisexual men have higher incomes but that childless gay women
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, It is very difficult to pull oneself out of generational dependency and most people of any race couldn't do it. Clearly there are exceptional people who do, more with each passing decade... But, when you are taught that it's hardly worth trying, that the game is so stacked against you, you are at a disadvantage to even try. There are plenty of poor whites in America as well and they don't seem to do much better than their black counterparts. Again, so much of it is generational apathy about "the system". The good news is that the chief determinant of future poverty, unwed childbirth, is decreasingly in both racial groups.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Anthropologists have tracked this and it is true that once a family reaches "middle class" status they have fewer children but are more concerned about the education of each and every child. I am from an area where many of the low income parents proudly stand up and say they're too busy working to bother with their kids' educations. These are also the parents who tend to encourage teenagers to drop out in order to work and help support the family. Not something we're used to hearing in the First World in the 21st Century, but then so many of them are not from the First World. Hopefully assimilation will make education easier for the next generation to obtain but at this point too many, mostly lower income, children are being discouraged from participating in the only thing that will pu
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, You're right. I grew up in the sticks where high school boys did this. It was disgusting.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, If you have the time to date around and wait for him to mature, do so. If you're say, 35 or so and want kids, start looking for someone who actually wants to commit to you.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Most of my gay friends "came out" only to find that their families already either knew or suspected. In a related story, I married into a conservative ethnic family that was horrified by my race, religious beliefs, age, career choice, geographical comfort zone and anything else you can think of. The first two years was hell but eventually people get used to anything.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, I'm white and I live in a neighborhood where virtually all of the gang activity is amongst Latinos. I celebrate when a black family moves onto my street. I find their priorities are generally more in line with mine than the average undocumented non-English speakers all around me.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, We're lazy, our cities lack green spaces to exercise, we watch too much TV, corporations push high-fructose corn syrup down our throats, school lunches are too starchy, it's not even safe for kids to walk to school so they sit on their butts all the time... And big pharma and its expensive drugs for type II diabetes and cholesterol couldn't be happier. Sadly, this is why universal health care will never be reality in this country.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, I am not an apologist. My city is being eviscerated by illegal immigration (more quickly than yours I might add). You asked a question from the perspective of the alien, "why would you..." I answered, because you're uneducated, because President Calderon tells you the US is the source of your troubles and OWES you a living. Because President Bush invites you in. Because in California virtually all the high profile politicians treat illegal aliens like a special protected class. Even the Catholic Church tells them it's okay. They have no authority figure telling them it's illegal and they live a hand to mouth existence that doesn't seem to grasp long term planning or thinking. This is why the minute an immigrant kid in L.A. turns 14 his parents pull him out of school and send him to
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Actually the whole reason the US deemed Saddam Hussein a "terrorist" was because he was giving 25K per family to the survivors of Palestinian suicide bombers. Barring that kind of help, Hamas, Hezbollah and agencies like that help out. This is why those organizations have such overwhelming support in the poor sections of the Muslim world. In some cases they are the only means of support people have. But one assumes that extended family, if they can afford it, chip in too. Most people recruited to blow themselves up are young enough that they don't have many dependents. I think that's by design. Leaving one or two kids and a young wife who can remarry is easier than sending a man with ten children off to kill himself. As for the future, that is our call to make. Will we continue
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, I think most gay people would reject some of the wording in your question. I am straight but live in a very liberal city and have many gay friends who live openly with no problems at all. They are not discriminated against at work (most work in the entertainment business), they buy homes, get married, have or adopt children and live perfectly normal lives. Unfortunately there are only a few places in the country where this is possible.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, When we're young and looking mostly for a physical encounter we'll probably go for a bad boy. The same reason a man just looking for a fling will choose the hottest girl despite her character or intellect. But, most women, when they choose a man for a long term relationship or marriage will look less for the adrenaline rush of a bad boy and more for the stability of a guy with less drama. Those who marry exciting bad boys usually end up paying for it later.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Slavery was not "us" not knowing any better. Unless you are a direct descendent of one of the few formerly slave owning families still in existence, it had nothing to do with you. Hence, it also had no direct consequence to African Americans living today. However, it is true that decades of Jim Crow laws that deprived blacks of jobs, farm loans, educations, etc. affected how much inherited wealth was passed down through the years. The answer is not to write checks to individuals, it is to strengthen programs that keep poorer blacks out of gangs, in school and away from unwed parenthood.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Someone with Judeo-Christian beliefs might say because He also gave us free will to sin or be righteous. Given that religion is a man-made construct, I would say that this is simply one of the many inconsistencies. This is why it's difficult for rational people to believe in god, hell or heaven for that matter.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, I live in one of the worst school districts in the country. The parents here claim that they're too busy working to properly care for their children's educations. That doesn't even take into consideration the huge number of absentee fathers in some poor communities. Until people learn to practice hands-on parenting, which includes not having more kids than you can manage, we will have inner city schools filled with apathetic and disruptive kids. It's so unfair to those poorer kids who really do want an education and really do have the potential to do well.
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Name : Dot, Gender : Female, Age : none, City : L.A., State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, 
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