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From Rags to Riches? Barriers to Achieving the American Dream

CHICAGO, Oct. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Individuals striving to achieve "the American Dream" have long been inspired by stories of men and women who were born into dire poverty yet grew up to be rich and successful. The reality is much starker. A new study of "Opportunity in America," edited by Isabel Sawhill and Sara McLanahan, shows that on average it takes five generations to overcome the inhibiting effects of an impoverished family background on a young person's prospects for economic success (The Future of Children, Vol. 16, No. 2). And contrary to yet another myth, it takes LONGER to achieve intergenerational economic and social mobility in America than it does in other wealthy countries.

In fact, several other studies, recently summarized by Timothy Smeeding of Syracuse University, show that that children from low-income families in the United States have less chance of earning high incomes as adults than comparable children in Britain, France, Germany, Canada and the Nordic-Scandinavian countries.

Native-born minorities and women face the greatest obstacles to achieving economic progress, according to the authors of "Opportunity in America," but for different reasons. For minorities, the problem is largely one of inadequate education; for women it is largely the wage and promotion penalties that women face when they try to combine work with family responsibilities. Immigrants coming to this country today may experience greater mobility in the U.S. than in their homeland, but not nearly at the pace experienced by previous generations. One of the best ways to reverse the current trend of diminishing opportunity is to invest in education, say Sawhill and McLanahan, editors of the new study. Here are some affordable yet effective changes they recommend to increase the opportunities for mobility for children born into disadvantaged families (a future issue of the journal will include cost estimates for these and other proposals to reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity):

-- High-quality preschool for disadvantaged children.

-- Smaller class sizes at K-12 level.

-- Improve teacher quality by removing license and certification requirements of teachers.

-- Require states and local school districts to spend federal education funding on carefully evaluated and successful programs of basic instruction.

-- Increase higher education options and funding for low- income college students by granting state aid directly to students rather than institutions.

Family policy researcher Janet Gornick, Director of the Luxembourg Income Study, also reports that better parental leave policies and child care subsidies would allow more women with children to work their way up to a secure standard of living. While some politicians claim that such reforms are too expensive to be practical, many other industrial countries have successfuly upgraded both their education systems and their family support policies.

Meanwhile, argues Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education at the Council on Contemporary Families, "the real question is whether we can afford NOT to invest in these reforms. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax cuts enacted since 2001 have added more than $2.3 trillion to budget deficits in the past 5 years. If we can afford to give back so much money to those who have already succeeded, surely we can afford to invest in opportunities for those who have not."

To set up personal interviews about barriers and routes to opportunity with Isabel Sawhill or Sara McLanahan, co-editors of this study, e-mail and/or phone Elisabeth Donahue at edonahue@princeton.edu or 609-258-0430.

For more information on international comparisons of inequality and social mobility, contact Timothy Smeeding, Distinguiished Professor of Economics and Public Administration, Syracuse University, at tmsmeed@maxwell.syr.edu or 315-443- 9042

For more on public policies that impact the mobility prospects for women, along with cross-national comparisons of poverty and inequality, contact Janet Gornick, Director, Luxembourg Income Study, and Professor of Political Science, City University of New York and Baruch College, at Janet_Gornick@BARUCH.CUNY.EDU or 212-817-1872.

On Friday, October 20, CCF will host a national symposium on work-family issues, "Who Cares? Dilemmas of Work and Family in the 21st Century," at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The day-long meeting will feature a dialogue between leading researchers on work-family issues and noted journalists from around the country who cover-work-family issues. For more information, visit: http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org.

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The Council on Contemporary Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of family researchers and practitioners that seeks to further a national understanding of how America's families are changing and what is known about the strengths and weaknesses of different family forms and various family interventions.

The Council helps keep journalists informed of notable work on family-related issues via the CCF Network. If you would like to join the CCF Network, please email Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education, at coontzs@msn.com or 360-556- 9223 (cell).

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