At AEI’s recent event, “The American dream in crisis,” Robert Putnam, Charles Murray, and William Julius Wilson discussed problems brought to light in Putnam’s new book, “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis.” The book expounds upon several alarming trends – the widening income gap, growing class segregation, and the disappearance of working-class communities – and investigates their implications for America’s children.
Putnam’s presentation highlighted several startling class-based disparities in children’s upbringings, cited historical trends in income inequality and other potentially-related variables, and suggested ways to revitalize the American dream.
“Increasingly the most important decision a child will make is choosing their parents, and that is fundamentally un-American,” Putnam observed. Class disparities in children’s environments, communities, and opportunities are present at birth and take effect during childhood. Possibly the most dire consequence of these disparities, according to Putnam, is the fact that poor children have no safety nets. By contrast, potentially life-shattering blunders become harmless learning experiences for wealthy kids, thanks to their highly-invested support networks.
In Putnam’s view, America is in a second Gilded Age, and today’s upper class, like that of the 1890s, must experience a “civic reawakening.” To illustrate this point, he presented a chart showing that after the first Gilded Age, social capital, philanthropy, economic equality, and political consensus increased until the mid-1960s. According to Putnam, the establishment of public high schools sparked these upward trends by diminishing educational inequalities and jumpstarting economic productivity.
In hopes of reviving those positive trends, Putnam proposed what he calls “purple policies,” which combine conservative and liberal ideas. With the goal of reviving equal opportunity, Putnam advocates for the careful development and reform of programs such as early childhood education, apprenticeships, tutoring, community colleges, and parent coaching.
While Murray agreed with Putnam’s observations, he questioned the efficacy of “purple policies.” Citing a study in Nature, Murray said that factors such as family income, parenting style, and education account for a limited amount of variance in outcomes like cognitive ability. Genes predict these outcomes more accurately.
According to Murray, declines in inter-class marriage are creating an ability gap that exacerbates the opportunity gap. Children’s emotional intelligence, IQ, and overall success, Murray said, are highly correlated with each other and with parental IQ. The complication of “assorted mating” suggests that Putnam’s solutions may not suffice. “I hope for a better outcome,” said Murray. “I do not expect it.”
Wilson drew attention to another complication: race. According to his 1980 book, “The Declining Significance of Race,” economic class predicts life trajectory with greater accuracy than race. This statement is even truer today, said Wilson, and according to a study that compared intra-racial income gaps, the divide between rich and poor is widest among African Americans.
Putnam concluded, “There’s a core of things we could all agree on that would make things better.” We may not know what caused the American dream’s malaise. We may disagree as to the proper cure. But we can agree that an alive-and-well American dream guarantees our kids an equal chance at success.
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