You can tell from this Daily Tar Heel story that author, columnist, and Manhattan Institute scholar John McWhorter shook up the UNC audience Monday night by challenging their acceptance of conventional wisdom about poverty.

Author and New York Sun columnist John McWhorter is no stranger to commenting on race.

And when McWhorter came to Memorial Hall to give a lecture about race and poverty Monday night, he dealt with a variety of contentious issues that elicited heated discussion.

“Racism is not the topic to be talked about. I don’t think it’s the main problem — but culture is the problem,” said McWhorter, who is black.

He made absolute statements about how to avoid poverty: go to high school and do not get married or have kids until you are twenty.

He said statistics show that people who do those three things will not be poor.

“I think that’s beautiful advice of whatever color or history you are,” he said.

I agree. By the way, this isn’t simply McWhorter’s opinion. The statistics/advice he refers to can be traced to former Bill Clinton friend and adviser William Galston. You’ll also find Galston’s stats referenced in this 2002 City Journal piece by James Q. Wilson.

I wish more people paid attention to this.