The Story
Kids whose parents don't have time to make sure they behave well.
Kids who become exceptionally street-savvy, know exactly which manner of comportment to adopt in which situation because they spend so much time around people that they eventually graduate from begging and wheedling to manipulating.
To a kid like this, the feedback of instant gratification puts the payoffs of education in an abstract plane. Smile and act cute, and the presumption of your requests (stranger, buy me this... buy me that) will be tempered and perhaps even overlooked. Will someone who's been conditioned to take these shortcuts (wheedle, get someone to pay for you vs learn, work, earn money, pay for yourself) understand the value of book smarts? How do you teach them when they so firmly believe their time better spent on other pursuits? Is it presumptuous to assume that they need to be educated?
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