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Yes, the social mobility of Americans is almost non existent. One thing I noticed when I lived there is that even people at the bottom and in the middle thought
by flexie 10y ago
Yes, the social mobility of Americans is almost non existent. One thing I noticed when I lived there is that even people at the bottom and in the middle thought that it was a meritocracy because 1) smart people who 2) studied really hard get into one of the great colleges, get the good jobs and become powerful and wealthy.
The paper that the article is about shows that your chances of going to a great college are 117 times higher if your parents are top 0.1 percent than if your parents are in the bottom quintile. So little Zach who's dad packs parcels for Amazon doesn't even have 1 percent of the chance of getting into Princeton as Matt who's father heads a team working on the Amazon Web Services. Not even 1 percent.
And apart from that I never understood why a genetic advantage like being born smart is less unfair than other birth rights or whether success in life depending on making the right choices when you are a teenager should be much more of a meritocracy. Almost no kid makes those right choices - to study the right things hard, do extracurricular activities etc - without a supporting parent enabling it.
And when there seem to be no fair meritocracy it's so much worse that the wealth distribution is skewed beyond anything.
- Shivetya 10y agoWell there are not many opportunities for the poor in major American cities to get out of their condition and the way welfare and assistance programs are structured it can be detrimental to get beyond a certain means. To solve a good amount of the city's poor prospects we need to get the War on Drugs back to reality. It not only strikes the city but it hits the poor outside as well. Families that least can withstand the loss of one income are the most affected. Fix this damn War on Drugs, fix the police preying on the poor with seizure laws, and find a means to reduce the everyday government fees that hit the poor disproportionately will go a long way
- cmdrfred 10y agoI wouldn't claim 7% is non-existent. I think we tell children that college is the only path to wealth and thus many whom never had the opportunity to receive any college believe that they can't achieve anything but a poverty level standard of living. I grew up poor and believed this myself up until a few years ago and even without the benefit of a high school degree I have found that my upward mobility is only limited by my willingness to work hard and make strategic moves. I wish one of my teachers would have told me that success is possible without education, but then again they went to college and got a government job so they probably had no idea that the path I'm traveling even exists.
- vixen99 10y agoReminds me of the quip about the guy who, confronted by a smart friend over his family wealth, retorted "You inherited brains, why shouldn't I inherit money?".
- tornadoboy55 10y ago'because if I do nothing with my brain, I'll have nothing. But if you have your 2 million sitting around (in an investment account), it'll earn you 160.000 a year.'
- owebmaster 10y agoIntelligence is not inherited, it is teached. Smart parents raise smart children, but their same children raised out in the jungle would be dumb just like monkeys.