[Eagle1]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

But the drop-off in the cognitive scores of Hispanic toddlers, especially those from Mexican backgrounds, was steeper than for other groups and could not be explained by economic status alone, he said. quote

The study states that there were other factors besides poverty that were the cause of this problem. I still think it's the genes.

I agree with Jean, it is the genes. Consider that in many of the countries of origin that the parents were born in there was a shortage of available foods with people eating only what they could find and sometimes not eating at all. The lack of proteins and other essentials that are needed for a healthy body and specifically the brain if not ingested will lead to deficiencies resulting in poor cognitive skills and a host of other problems.

Once a persons physiology is affected the degraded performance can be passed on to the offspring genetically.
I believe that a poor diet has had a disastous effect on the citizens of the third world.

Factor number two, culture does begin early on though. In many South of the border and other third world nations the norm is to simply survive with whatever they can as quickly as they can. There is not an emphasis in learning the three R's as we do here and as is done in other developed nations.

Mom and dad frequently could care less about what the little one learns in school or what the report card says. School is a baby sitting service as far as they are concerned. There are exceptions of course but generally the peoples from third world countries can hardly be considered over achievers.
Culture, genes, they both have a lot to do with this issue.