>it's not that easy to get out of poverty,>

agreed..but i KNOW many (my family including) who HAVE done this, nothing is easy, even so it is STILL duable..

>stats on social mobility in America, home of "The American >Dream", are not pretty.

tell me about it

>If you're born rich, you have a real good chance to stay that >way, if you're born poor, you have a much harder chance of >getting ahead.

for the life of me i can never fathom that argument..

how is it that immigrants can come to this country and become industrious people?

>You tend to wind up in poorer schools, which means it's tougher >to get motivated and tougher to get into a good college, you may >not have as much info on other options, or as much info in >general.

i used to say the same thing to my mother everyday, and she used to tell me that teacher's can do but so MUCH, no matter how good or bad, no one can give you "sufficient" information, it is up to YOU to go out there, find and educate yourself..

more importantly i went to kennedy high school, it wasn't a top notch school, probably one of the shittiest schools in the bronx. but i know many black and hispanics people that i graduated with that went to mit, penn state, binghamton and the like...i even got accepted to binghamton which has one of the best nursing programs in ny, but i couldn't go..wanna know why? my moms made too much according to the gov't..and the tuition was just to steep for us to afford

>Plus there's the idea of social capital and social networks, >i.e. getting a job isn't just about being the most qualified >applicant, it's about knowing how to do the interview and >knowing somebody at a company even.

agreed

>The only arguments I really don't like is when people seem to >imply that poor people don't want to get out of poverty, that >they don't know how to spend money, and it's hopeless to try to >fight the "culture of poverty". Some of this is stating the >obvious, but I don't think it's wrong to argue that social >mobility isn't all it's cracked up to be in America and that >some things (especially education) need fixing, I think it sucks >when that argument is used to say "poor people are hopeless and >wouldn't know what to do with more information or money."

lets be real here...

i see what your saying

but there are some, even many that are satisfied with their life style..

but i do agree that inner city schools are under funded, etc...