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Fairly reductive to pin their success on just these things and not more structural issues that even you would probably acknowledge exist. Obviously some succeed

Fairly reductive to pin their success on just these things and not more structural issues that even you would probably acknowledge exist. Obviously some succeed despite that, but that's not really the point of the article or your own comment, and you seem to have arrived at this conclusion before even considering the deeper reasons for why this happens.

daseiner1 8y ago
Sure, there's a deeper conversation to be had. This ain't it: """ Upper middle-class parents obviously have more money to spend on their children, but there is also a social fracture. Class is not only defined in dollars, but by education, attitude, and zip code, by its way of life. America, warns Robert Putnam in Our Kids, faces “an incipient class apartheid.” The typical child born and raised in the American upper middle class is raised in a stable home by well-educated, married parents, lives in a great neighborhood, and attends the area’s best schools. They develop a wide range of skills and gain an impressive array of credentials. Upper middle-class children luck out right from the start, even though this country was founded on antihereditary principles. As part of the process of naturalization, I had to sign part 12, question 4 of Form N-400, which reads as follows: “Are you willing to give up any inherited title(s) or order(s) of nobility that you have in a foreign country?” I had none to give up, sadly, but very much enjoyed this question. Inheriting a particular position is un-American, after all. But while the inheritance of titles or positions remains forbidden, the persistence of class status across generations in the United States is very strong. Too strong, in fact, for a society that prides itself on social mobility. """ (emphasis mine). I mean, c'mon, this isn't very insightful.
- shaki-dora 8y ago
  How is your idea, i. e. „Poor people should work harder“, more insightful than this quote, which points out the (rather uncontroversial) fact that being able to send your kids to the right prep school is a significant, and unearned, factor in success?
  - daseiner1 8y ago
    Where did I write anything about the poor needing to work harder?
    - shaki-dora 8y ago
      „the top 20% possess superior values, habits, and cultural systems for social success“ If those „values and habits“ are supposed to be „be white and have a trust fund“, I may have misunderstood you.
      - daseiner1 8y ago
        I’ve gotta hand it to you, you truly excel at creatively reading whatever you’d like to see in a body of text. Bravo

daseiner1 8y ago

Sure, there's a deeper conversation to be had. This ain't it: """ Upper middle-class parents obviously have more money to spend on their children, but there is also a social fracture. Class is not only defined in dollars, but by education, attitude, and zip code, by its way of life. America, warns Robert Putnam in Our Kids, faces “an incipient class apartheid.” The typical child born and raised in the American upper middle class is raised in a stable home by well-educated, married parents, lives in a great neighborhood, and attends the area’s best schools. They develop a wide range of skills and gain an impressive array of credentials. Upper middle-class children luck out right from the start, even though this country was founded on antihereditary principles. As part of the process of naturalization, I had to sign part 12, question 4 of Form N-400, which reads as follows: “Are you willing to give up any inherited title(s) or order(s) of nobility that you have in a foreign country?” I had none to give up, sadly, but very much enjoyed this question. Inheriting a particular position is un-American, after all. But while the inheritance of titles or positions remains forbidden, the persistence of class status across generations in the United States is very strong. Too strong, in fact, for a society that prides itself on social mobility. """ (emphasis mine). I mean, c'mon, this isn't very insightful.

shaki-dora 8y ago
How is your idea, i. e. „Poor people should work harder“, more insightful than this quote, which points out the (rather uncontroversial) fact that being able to send your kids to the right prep school is a significant, and unearned, factor in success?
- daseiner1 8y ago
  Where did I write anything about the poor needing to work harder?
  - shaki-dora 8y ago
    „the top 20% possess superior values, habits, and cultural systems for social success“ If those „values and habits“ are supposed to be „be white and have a trust fund“, I may have misunderstood you.
    - daseiner1 8y ago
      I’ve gotta hand it to you, you truly excel at creatively reading whatever you’d like to see in a body of text. Bravo