Summary Of Robert Putnam's 'Our Kids'
In Our Kids, Robert Putnam argues that the American Dream of equal opportunity has all but ceased to exist in recent years. Driven primarily by the economic divergence of the upper and lower classes, children of today overwhelming follow in the educational and economic footsteps of their parents. These economic factors are then further perpetuated and entrenched by the lifestyle gap between the different classes. Spurred on by geographic sorting and the decline of US manufacturing, inequality on a wide range of fronts has increased dramatically. Furthermore, Putnam contends, the rate at which this gap grows is itself getting faster every year. The interrelated forces that shape the workforce, particularly those surrounding education, have created
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College education has become perhaps the single biggest economic divider, while the costs of college have dramatically risen. Children of lower class parents are thus denied this most important vehicle of social mobility, and their outlook, statistically, remains as bleak as their parents’. Indeed, with the number of manufacturing jobs shrinking every year, college degrees are now nearly universally required for high-paying jobs. Since this 1970s, this combination of decreased access with increased necessity has served to limit the ability of unprivileged children to increase their lot in life through education. Reflecting their new wealth, the upper class began to move and sequester themselves in wealthy communities, forming a “de facto segregation of Americans along class lines” (Putnam 37). This geographic separation then began to alter the structure of secondary and primary education, placing upper class kids into better funded districts as lower class districts crumble. Even worse, this education gap continues to grow as the effects snowball, with lower class children both unprepared for and unable to afford college. In both absolute and relative terms, these disadvantaged children will be even worse off than their forebears. Necessarily, the changing economic prospects of the upper and lower class have also altered the lifestyles of the two
College education has become perhaps the single biggest economic divider, while the costs of college have dramatically risen. Children of lower class parents are thus denied this most important vehicle of social mobility, and their outlook, statistically, remains as bleak as their parents’. Indeed, with the number of manufacturing jobs shrinking every year, college degrees are now nearly universally required for high-paying jobs. Since this 1970s, this combination of decreased access with increased necessity has served to limit the ability of unprivileged children to increase their lot in life through education. Reflecting their new wealth, the upper class began to move and sequester themselves in wealthy communities, forming a “de facto segregation of Americans along class lines” (Putnam 37). This geographic separation then began to alter the structure of secondary and primary education, placing upper class kids into better funded districts as lower class districts crumble. Even worse, this education gap continues to grow as the effects snowball, with lower class children both unprepared for and unable to afford college. In both absolute and relative terms, these disadvantaged children will be even worse off than their forebears. Necessarily, the changing economic prospects of the upper and lower class have also altered the lifestyles of the two