Folks need to remember that parents are the primary source of educating their children on proper behavior. Yet, here lies the catch-22 in homes with parents ill-prepared or unwilling to do so. Until we are willing to actually back teachers, they will not be able to make a strong, public difference.

Becky makes some good points. I’m not sure how it works in the US but in Canada we officially have no class system, no one of higher status than anyone else. In reality, we have an unofficial and often unconscious class system. It is based on how considerate one is of others eg, saying “please” and “thank you", dental health, cleanliness, and grammar. If you go into a job interview with badly crooked or decayed teeth it will be hard to get the job. The same if you go into an interview for a university place using poor grammar. These are not always within a person’s control; they are an economic opportunity issue. If you go to a school where the teachers don’t have time to correct everyone’s grammar. If you can’t afford good dental health, you are sunk.

Things may be different in the US but I do see many people struggling hard to overcome disadvantages beyond their control. A mom with a poor education, working two full time jobs, riding buses to and from work and daycare may be working hard, she may be working smart but she won’t necessarily end up economically advantaged as a result of her hard work. It is sometimes possible to overcome being dealt a very bad hand but not always possible.

We are incredibly privileged and that is what has let us into the front door. What we do once there is up to us. Some don’t even get a map to that front door.

Lorraine

Lorraine

People who work hard are “given” more opportunities, are they not? Do employers like to promote slackers? Do colleges give more scholarships to students who’ve worked and studied hard? People who work hard “earn” opportunities . . . to work even harder.

If we tell people they can’t achieve success because of their class or ethnicity, “because that’s 90% of it” . . . we are doing them a GREAT disservice. There are plenty of examples of people who succeed in spite of a poor beginning, because they believed they could and WORKED at it. Many of them are immigrants who weren’t taught the political correctness that they should be coddled because of minority (or some other) status.

It’s okay to feel blessed or lucky for how we got started. But it’s wrong to tell OTHERS they have little chance to succeed because they didn’t get the same start. Believe in the human spirit, ingenuity and determination, and spread that belief to others! We need more successful people so that we CAN help those who truly cannot help themselves.

Now if I didn’t put forth any effort at anything, the successes I’ve had in life would probably completely evaporate. I wouldn’t have 90% of what I have now (if what you mean by success is educational achievement or money or something else along those lines). So there’s some elasticity in that measure. A lot, actually. Just because a person who doesn’t try at all ends up with nothing at all doesn’t mean that one who does work hard achieved everything on his or her own. The hard work only gets you in the door; it’s the opportunities presented you by others and by your circumstances (many if not most of which are outside your personal control, like your upbringing and social status) that gets you the rest of what you have. Hard work and personal responsibility are certainly necessary for success, but I think they’re far from sufficient. Ten percent sounds about right to me, but then that’s something really hard to put an actual number on.

You think the share of your success that you earn by giving it your ALL is only 10%? Try this: stop giving by 100%, (and give zero) I’d be willing to bet that your success rate FALLS by much MORE than 10%. If you stop “working” on your success and do nothing, your success will FALL by 100%. Want to reevaluate?

I think “success” is less like a pie chart with static percentages, and more alike a highway of moving cars. Our upbringing only gets us so far along the road, and it’s up to us to move the rest of the way. If we stop trying, or take an unwise detour, we can quickly get lost or fall behind. Others who may not have the “head start” can catch up, if they are shown what to do and if they believe that they can. How can we help others believe that they can make it? How can we show them the way? It’s more than just education. In some cases, cultural norms must be battled. But political correctness and moral relativity tells us that it’s wrong to tell someone else that “their way is bad” even if “their way” is what is keeping them from being successful.

There’s much more on this topic, but I have a database to finish. :/ I’ll try to get to the other points later, as well as your most recent post. :) I appreciate the time you put into your thoughts. I bought Atlas Shrugged a while back, but it could take me a year to read it, judging from its heft.

Not so much in why we chose a given ideology but where we choose to draw the line, to what degree we will take it. Some are pacifists but argue with every neighbour they’ve ever had, or beat the dog, or love ultimate fighting but there are some pacifists who won’t even kill a housefly. It’s all in where we draw the line because it’s almost impossible to carry an ideology to its extreme lengths. I hope that clarifies what I meant. (In an early writing class, I remember the teacher saying a writer can never say, “What I meant was..")

Lorraine