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Feb 11, 2006

"If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift will find a fitting place." --Margaret Mead

Cultural Capital

A child growing up in a family earning over $90,000 has a 1 in 2 chance of getting a college degree by age 24; a child in a family earning $35,000 to $61,000 has a 1 in 10 chance; a child in a family earning under $35,000 has a 1 in 17 chance. Yet the main problem is not that poor students can't afford college; nor is the main problem that these poorer students don't have access to college. The problem is that students who enter college often find they are unable to thrive there and as a result, students from less-educated families are the ones dropping out the most. David Brooks says that today's rich don't exploit the poor, they just outcompete them; their crucial advantage is not that they possess financial capital, it's that they possess more cultural capital.