It is conventional wisdom to link social and economic status with education and behaviour. A powerful belief is that if you are poor you are at risk. New research in Canada conducted by Doug Wilms refutes this.
There are more kids in trouble from middle class families than from any other sector. His theory is that what is at the heart of poor attainment is what he calls Family Functioning or Culture. The worst results come from highly authoritarian families - the my way or the highway style. Just in behind are permissive families - any thing you do dear is OK with me. What is best is a style he calls authoritative. We have rules here but we explain them and as you get older you participate in developing them.
The article links in to a remarkable technology created by Values Technology that has ben used to measure culture in the workplace for many years. The ah ha for me was that VT show the same linkage to poor results with these styles at work. Maybe this is why many are so unhappy in bureaucracies which are both authoritarian and permissive in that they have a lot of rules but you can behave badly
4:57:00 PM 
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