Why rich kids do better than smarter, less advantaged kids: 'opportunity hoarding'
Would you rather be born rich and average or poor and smart?
We like to think that in a free society a lot of the smart, disadvantaged kids will find a way to become successful, but a new report from Great Britain suggests otherwise. Researchers tracked the accomplishments of 17,000 people born during the same week in 1970 and found that family, social and institutional connections, rather than ability as expressed through cognitive tests, are the best predictors of success. The study analyzed the subjects' accomplishments up to their 42nd birthdays.
"The empirical evidence presented here shows that there are unequal chances among children who perform relatively poorly in cognitive tests taken at age 5 and those who perform relatively well," the study authors write. They add: "Children showing early signs of low ability from better-off families largely avoid downward mobility. ... High attaining children from less advantaged family backgrounds (income or social class) are less likely to be in a high earning or top job as an adult."
The child's parents and environment appear to make the difference, the study states.
"The education of parents was found to correlate with children's career success, and the connections afforded by more educated parents were found to create an unequal playing field," The Independent newspaper writes of the research. The study's authors call this outcome "opportunity hoarding," insisting it means "less connected children" get shut out from education and career possibilities.
Great Britain is famous for its class system, with rich kids going to swank private schools like Eton and seeing doors open for them because of their accents. Think "Upstairs, Downstairs." But the old, snooty social norms in the United Kingdom have been in decline for decades, and the country's capitalist, entrepreneurial economy is in many ways comparable to that of the U.S.
The study, from Britain's Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, even Why rich kids do better than smarter, less advantaged kids: 'opportunity hoarding' | OregonLive.com: