Why do people keep assuming that "lower income" = stupid, lazy and dirty?

I don’t get offended very easily, but I get so angry when I hear things like, “lower income students do more poorly in school.” It’s just reinforcing a stereotype that isn’t necessarily true, and it can give a poor person a feeling of dismal inevitability.

If their kids aren’t doing well in school it’s because they’re getting no back up at home. That back up costs absolutely $0, and has nothing to do with poverty.

If people’s stuff is dirty it’s because they’re lazy, not because they’re poor. It costs next to nothing to wipe things down and pick up junk.

After the divorce, the kids and I were poor, but my kids all did well in school and had no serious run ins with the law..

I kept my stuff clean, too. My neighbor was so impressed with how well we kept the yard, he offered to pay $25.00 a week to any one of us who would mow it for him.

I wish people would stop with those stereotypes, and I wish others would correct them along the way.