Latino toddlers lag white children in cognitive skills

[Ayatollahgondola]

If they are placing some specific weight on the 2 year timetable, I'd say they are foolish. Not all kids mature equally, and that may also hold true for whole demographics. Brain development could be different with them, but not necessarily in a negative way. But in the event it's not some physical thing, it could also easily be cultural.

Oh wait.....then I saw the real problem:

The studies come at a time when early education is an increasing focus of public policy makers. President Obama has moved to provide $2.1 billion in stimulus funds for Head Start and Early Head Start and $8 billion for state early learning grants.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

There is that little thing called 'genes'. Not much anyone can do about them at this time. Maybe they just have a bad gene pool. Many certainly do when it comes to height and flat butts.

[Papoose]

Jeez, what's my excuse then?

Seriously, I can see these children lagging in linquistic skills if they're being completely confused the first 2 years of their lives with 2 languages at home.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

I still think it's the genes. Kids can learn a language at that age very quickly. And learning a language, even more than one, can be done by children with a very low IQ. Just think about it, even retarded children learn a language and learn to talk depending on how retarded they are. I don't know at what level it become not possible, but it's very, very low. There's something else besides environment going on here.

[DerailAmnesty.com]

Poor immigrant Latinas have healthy babies, but by age 2 or 3, their toddlers begin to lag behind white middle-class children in vocabulary, listening and problem-solving skills, according to two studies released Tuesday.

I still think it's the genes. Kids can learn a language at that age very quickly. And learning a language, even more than one, can be done by children with a very low IQ. Just think about it, even retarded children learn a language and learn to talk depending on how retarded they are. I don't know at what level it become not possible, but it's very, very low. There's something else besides environment going on here.

I disagree. It's got to be environment. It makes complete sense that, starting around age 2, Latino children from poor, immigrant families would start to fall behind. Why? Simple. They're hearing a narrower display of language and more limited vocabulary. Further, I'll venture to say that children of any race who have parents with limited education, are largely at a disadvantage to the offspring of better educated mothers and fathers. It's a question of what you're exposed to. At that age, the vast majority of your experience is your immediate family members.

[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.

[ilbegone]

I think we might be able to put this in the same category as this:

See Baby Discriminate

Kids as young as 6 months judge others based on skin color. What's a parent to do?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/214989/page/1

The article concerning the biased "study" seems to have been cleaned up - as I remember it the header was something like "Is your baby a racist?", featuring a picture of a white baby. I believe it has also been edited to be less offensive, as the article seemed to originally to be focused more on white children having racist notions, without similar reference to babies of other races.

I think we all remember this quote from the article:

If "black pride" is good for African-American children, where does that leave white children? It's horrifying to imagine kids being "proud to be white."

The comment section has been closed and I believe the commentary isn't accessible anymore, there must have been a firestorm of criticism.




I also believe that if we focus too much attention on the New York Times and LA Times articles concerning an unnamed study about brown babies and speculate as to whether the quoted conclusions are due to genes or environment, it will be spun into something like this:

...hispanic gang members, homosexuals and transvestites, Jews, and misguided college kids... http://www.nsm88.org/reports/califor...ortoct2009.htm

Then the usual progression from there:

"The Holocaust - The Nazi Genocide" http://www.deathcamps.info/

Just my two cents: do what you like, but I don't think poking sticks at that sleeping dog is going to help us.

[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.