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There are certainly outcomes like yours. However if you look at the aggregate statistics, it is rather different. One can remind oneself that a child neither c

• wahern 5y ago
  If you look at the aggregate statistics, like the outcomes for first and second generation East Asian[1] and South Asian[2] immigrants, which bring with them a distinctly strong cultural emphasis on education, it becomes clear that structural impediments are far easier to overcome than typically claimed. But I agree that the stickiness of wealth among Americans generally isn't because they actually value education as a tool of mobility. Rather it's more because education is understood as a class signifier; something that's expected of their class. That's why so many wealthy politicians and pundits who claim college is overemphasized and demand that it should be unnecessary for a middle-class lifestyle couldn't even fathom their own kids not going to the best college possible. And the failure of other groups to achieve what East and South Asian immigrants have is precisely because they've internalized (e.g. whites and blacks) or brought with them (e.g. Mexican immigrants) the same working-class ethic that has always predominated in American culture. In American culture, as in perhaps most cultures around the world, only the elite valued higher education, and they did so for the aforementioned reasons. Not that "go to school" hasn't been oft recited in modern American culture. It's just that it's mostly a half-hearted refrain. American culture values hard work and personal sacrifice above all else, and "book learning" is considered neither hard work nor a sacrifice. Contrast that w/ some other cultures, especially many (but not all) Asian cultures, not to mention European Jewish culture, where formal study is very much considered hard work and a personal sacrifice. None of which is to say luck isn't involved in individual success. Of course it is. Indeed, to some meaningful degree it's always a factor. But all that tells us is that we should refrain from judging lack of success as a personal failure, not that agency and cultural values are irrelevant to the probability of success. Also, it goes without saying that a child who grows up w/ and internalizes cultural norms will find it far easier to exercise and apply those norms. As example, someone who never grew up brushing their teeth might find it exceptionally difficult to adopt and maintain that habit as an adult. Whereas someone who grew up doing that would find it difficult to lose that habit. Yet another reason to avoid comparing and judging personal character based on outcomes. At the same time, very clearly norms matters, and some norms are to be preferred over others. [1] Because of the direct and indirect effects of the Mandarin exam system. But more recently see also [2]. [2] Because they tend to be middle-class self-selected to value, if not having already achieved, significant educational achievement.