Here's the relevant OECD article http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/7/45002641.pdf http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/7/45002641.pdf tl;dr: there are big differences b

Here's the relevant OECD article http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/7/45002641.pdf http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/7/45002641.pdf tl;dr: there are big differences between countries in the impact of parental education and earnings on the education and earnings of their kids. Parental success is a very strong determiner of both in the U.S., but much less so in, say, Canada and Finland (both of which are among the top four best-scoring countries on the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment).