No one can explain the rules of society. Members instinctively 'know' things the best experts aren't even aware of.
When versions of these rules and their implications are discussed, the reaction can even be violent if religion or race are involved.
Peer Group Beats Parents
Parents are overrated. About half of someone's personality is genetically determined, the other half is 'programmed' by the person's peer group during their formative years. When it comes to determining their offspring's personality and character traits, parents can only influence how well they will get along with their children later in life, and even this is determined in part by which community they inhabit. Actually, that's the one thing parents can influence, which explains the relation between real-estate prices and the perceived quality of local schools.
the Mentor Effect
The only way someone can achieve excellence in any field is to find someone with ample experience to teach them individually.
Incentives
People who expect to receive a reward or bonus for completing a task do not perform as well as those who expect nothing special in return, but are motivated by the goal itself.
the Flynn Effect
People are getting more intelligent as time goes by. The reason is the continuous invention of better metaphors. Human civilization is constantly evolving new methods to generalize the truth, to describe the essence of any subject more succinctly. Unfortunately, this process happens mostly sub-consciously on a group level and through the labors of a few geniuses, despite and certainly not because of the educational establishment.
Psychopaths
About 1% to 5% of humanity is born without a conscience, or has severely distorted morals. Throughout history, certain types of evil personalities have managed to seize political power by deceiving their subjects. They then exploit their positions for their own benefits. Psychopaths need to be perceived as somewhat valuable to their communities to survive. They do this mostly by exploiting others in useful ways.
Ask and you shall receive
Many human problems that could easily be solved will never be solved. The reason is not the problem itself, but that the opposing interest groups come to hate each other. Often, a change can be effected merely by asking for one as part of a negotiating process, but the adversaries don't really want to solve the problem anymore. The damage has already been done. Now they just want to defeat their rivals.
the Revenge Motive
People would rather retaliate and suffer damage in return than to allow someone else to take advantage of them.
No Black Nerds
There are far fewer black nerds (or none?) than there are nerds in most other cultural groups, especially in technical fields. This may not be entirely genetic, but have a strong cultural component. Being a nerd is clearly seen as a weakness. They are uncool and sometimes defective individuals, but they can sometimes change society as a whole.
the Blink Effect
There are real benefits to not paying attention. First impressions and vague hunches can be more accurate than an exhaustive analysis of a complex problem.
In a related phenomenon, secondary sources usually contain more useful information than primary sources, even if they are distorted by stereotypes and misinformation.
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