> If those people have worse habits, are less motivated, less educated, less cultured, what is there to gain from it?

This is prejudice in the most basic sense: you literally don't know any of these things about the people you're surrounded by in a society. The person who rides the bus next to you could be a couch potato, or a talented artist, or something entirely different that simply isn't legible to you.

I don't know anything about California's math classes. I'm saying that, on a basic level, anybody who thinks this way about people they don't know is demonstrating the exact traits they're smugly claiming to be above.

> If those people have worse habits, are less motivated, less educated, less cultured, what is there to gain from it?

learning how to be patient and tolerant regarding situations / people / things i do not like or think of as “beneath me”.

tends to lead to better decision making as one can respond, rather than knee jerk react to everything.

edit — also, i tend to find i can learn a lot more useful lessons from beginners.

in the beginners mind there are a lot of possibilities. in the expert’s mind (especially self proclaimed ones) there are few possibilities.

children are a great example of this.

When my car broke down in the middle of a DoorDash run, I walked to a nearby park and sat next to a homeless guy who was about my age. He was deaf; we talked via text on our phones about how we'd ended up on the same bench, and I shared some of my food. I learned from him how resilient someone can be, even under incredibly unfair circumstances, but more importantly, he got something to eat.

It's not all about you.

> If those people have worse habits, are less motivated, less educated, less cultured, what is there to gain from it?

The appearance of humility^[0]? I don't really see what there is to gain either.

[0]: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Section II, Paragraph 9

Well, one reason is that your assumption that they are all or mostly inferior is wrong.

> what is there to gain from it?

Humility.

> Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

I hate this fucking site lol