The ridiculous violence in N.O.

Oye said
I don't get this - maybe you can elaborate?

You think it has less to do with poverty, but then the example you cite are poor schools in poor areas.

in a larger sense, i guess I'm having trouble seeing where poverty ends and crime begins - to the extent anyone can say, with certainty, it's one or the other.

I think it's social critical mass of all sorts of influences. Certainly including poverty and crime.

I also agree that education is the key.

Which is a major reason why the attitudes toward education - whether by the drug dealers or our equivocating politicians - bother me so much. WIth a good education, these kids have a better chance.

All of the lamenting about parenting - or lack thereof - is also valid. But there's nothing we can do about that. We can't really control parenting. But we can control education.

That's why I think it's more important to focus on education and supporting related socioeducational policies as opposed to trying to legislate parenting.

Oh, I agree education is important. But education and parenting go hand in hand. While parenting can't be legislated, it can be influenced by aspects of public policy and with PSAs IMO.

I think education is a larger and more critical issue than poverty. While it's true that education is often worse in poorer areas, it's not necessarily one leading to another. Some poor areas have good performing schools because the teachers care more.

Put it this way, education has a bigger impact on how people turn out than poverty, and parenting has a bigger impact than education. Employment is also a large factor and I think is somewhere between education and parenting. Keeping people busy is probably the most effective thing because they'd often otherwise would be thinking of ways to make money regardless of how they get it.