Are Londoners more intelligent?

[tothinkofsomething]

My Dad made a big thing when we moved out of London ( Zone 6 type expensive green Commuter belt area). We moved into North Hampshire. He basically was saying that outside the magical barrier of the M25 that the level of education is a lot lower. My Dc are just at the start of their school journeys and I have nothing to compare to. But his thoughts were that if my DC was top of their class in Hampshire that would be lower than in London. I'm guessing this depends on area of London? Also our estate agent said we shouldn't move out as we would struggle to get back in.

Yes. Here oop norf we have to feed our whippets on human brain cells because we're all so poooor and naturally that lowers the collective IQ.

What a stupid question!

But surely that's just the brain drain affect of London?

I live about as far from London as it's possible to be and still be on the mainland...so if intelligence is on a sort of sliding scale the further away you get, then I must be much, much more stupid than I ever gave myself credit for...

@Peach1886 at least you’re still on the mainland 😉

@ReeseWitherfork you know you're right, imagine the potential for thickness if I lived on an island....with sea between me and the clever people

My brother and I have always disliked Londoners because we find them arrogant and we have both hated having to work alongside them in previous employment.

I have a PhD in molecular biology, he is a chartered accountant and we were educated up North.

Why would you want to pay through the nose to live somewhere dirty, over crowded and expensive when you can do the same job and have an affordable home so that you can enjoy the rest of what life has to offer?

FYI there are 33 medical schools in the UK and four are in London.

There are 8 veterinary schools in the UK and there is only 1 in London.

I could go on but suffice to say the world of academia does not revolve around London.

Geography has nothing to do with intelligence, but culture and attitudes are starkly different eh?
Now I'm off to walk my whippet.

OP - there's a difference between intelligence and educational attainment. It's possible and even likely that statistically there are more people with graduate or professional degrees in London than elsewhere because there are several universities and lots of white collar and professional jobs that would require higher education.

As an aside I live in London and my kids are clever but my neighbours' kids seem thick so our street doesn't prove your dad's theory.

The fact you think this is a worthy question, and ask for stats to evidence an answer, tells me not everyone who grows up in London is particularly intelligent...

Really OP, this sort of rhetoric is just embarrassing. I moved from the regions to London for my career, then back out to the regions with wfh this year. Metropolitan areas tend to be more liberal, but that does not always equate to more intelligent.

Is it any wonder that there is anti-London feeling across the country with this sort of talk flying around. Just shows ignorance can be found in the regions and London alike.

There’s population level correlation between SES, income and general intelligence and I reckon on average you might see higher ‘intelligence’ (what measure are actually interested in?) in London compared to some parts of the UK

(Of course heavily confounded by SES and educational attainment)

Why would you want to pay through the nose to live somewhere dirty, over crowded and expensive

Because they like it there.

That’s ... allowed.

All joking aside, there is correlation between family income and educational attainment of children (though that is not intelligence).

London has a lot of the best off people in the country. Though in fairness it also has a lot of the poorest.

Londoners aren't more intelligent BUT there a lot more graduates (and those with post-graduate qualifications) clustered in London, so on paper it may seem that way.

@BefuddledPerson yes some of the top performing schools in London and the country are in tower hamlets which is very deprived. But it doesn't mean that if you send your child to that school, your child would automatically get straight As. The kids there are second generation immigrants, and their parents were usually middle class and educated in their respective countries, so they have imparted the same values to their children.

Immigrants gravitate to London because the community and jobs (both low paid and highly paid) are there. A highly educated Syrian doctor/professor who is now a refugee wouldn't want to live in Hampshire, he is already exiled from his country, why would he want to be exiled from the Syrian community in London. He may be driving a Uber in London but the fact that he is a educated man and would encourage his children to pursue higher education hasn't changed.

Those immigrant children + the children of City professionals does mean that london has more of its fair share of clever children

@tothinkofsomething

My Dad made a big thing when we moved out of London ( Zone 6 type expensive green Commuter belt area). We moved into North Hampshire. He basically was saying that outside the magical barrier of the M25 that the level of education is a lot lower. My Dc are just at the start of their school journeys and I have nothing to compare to. But his thoughts were that if my DC was top of their class in Hampshire that would be lower than in London. I'm guessing this depends on area of London? Also our estate agent said we shouldn't move out as we would struggle to get back in.

Oh yes, they most definitely are.

🤣🤣🤣🤣
Just when you thought you’d heard it all.......
Your dad a bit thick OP?!!

To clarify, Londoners are much more intelligent in every way.

@TheKeatingFive London has a lot of immigrants. a lot of the poorest may be first generation immigrants so their poverty may not have been caused by lack of education, but by conflict/displacement/language barrier. social poverty is far more difficult to overcome than economic poverty; a lot of immigrants are able to work their way up and their children can do very well at school.

In more rural parts of the UK with fewer immigrants, the poor are the native poor and may have been poor for generations. That is a lot more difficult to solve.

@KatieGGGG

Come back OP

Has she gone? Ah.

Are Londoners more intelligent?

Not if your dad is anything to go by.

More intelligent than who? Everyone in the world outside of London? Think it through.

Schools outside London regularly top lists. St Peter's in Yorkshire for one

@BunnyMacDougal 😂😂

I was born in Kent, educated privately in London, then moved to London. Now I’ve taken my super intellectual self to Hampshire.
Gosh this is funny. There are good and not so good schools everywhere including London.

Gosh yes. We are in Hampshire and my 12 yer old can't even read but is top of his class.

Did you know that in magical London Town the average cleaner is actually more intelligent than a Doctor living outside the M25?