Sue Lani Madsen: Strong families key to achieving the American Dream
There is a “yawning gap between the dearly held ideal of the self-made man and the difficulty of actually improving your station.”
Or perhaps you prefer: Anyone can “overcome naysayers and extreme poverty to achieve his goals.”
The first is from “The Self-Made Man: The story of America’s most pliable, pernicious, irrepressible myth,” by John Swansburg, which appears in the online magazine Slate.
The second is from an article by Drew Menard and published by the Liberty University News Service after an event with presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson.
The American dream of success based on hard work and personal initiative has always been central to Republican politics, starting with the story of Abraham Lincoln’s hardscrabble log cabin childhood. It still carries tremendous political value today, as indicated by the stump speeches of most Republicans. But of course each self-made man (or woman) has had mentors. In Lincoln’s case, he always gave credit for his success to his mother, Nancy Hanks, and his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, for their emphasis on education.
Swansburg doesn’t discount the value of hard work in the success of his five examples of the self-made man or woman, but he concludes the whole idea of self-agency is a myth because context plays a larger role. Right time, right place, right privilege. His slant reflects the progressives’ focus on the powerlessness of the individual to change fate in the face of the power of institutions.
Which myth, which story of how the world works, resonates with most Americans?
“Regardless of party affiliation, Americans do strongly agree that work ethic, values and a good education are ‘absolutely essential’ for helping people achieve the American Dream,” according to Will Friedman, president of Public Agenda, a nonpartisan nonprofit with Democratic roots. “While partisan rhetoric would have us believe that Americans are sharply divided when it comes to what they need to achieve the dream, [our] research suggests that there is actually a surprising level of consensus, crossing party lines, geography, education level, race and social class.”
The differences showed up when Public Agenda went on to survey other factors. Democrats were more likely to assign a higher value to the importance of government actions in changing context. Republicans placed more value on individual choice and responsibility to overcome context.
This was the background for a light bulb moment during a gathering last Wednesday at Greater Spokane Incorporated discussing how to get more women and minorities involved in science, technology, engineering and math in college. About 25,000 of these STEM-related jobs are unfilled in Washington, and STEM jobs are growing three times faster than any other category.
We heard about the importance of mentorships to open students’ eyes to new career possibilities. Statistics on disproportionality in achievement and graduation rates in high school for African-American students were put forward as part of the problem. The unmentioned factor was family structure.
Sandra Williams, representing the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs, also publisher of the “Black Lens” newspaper, is the one who flipped the light switch. She noted how schools often subtly and not so subtly discourage students who don’t fit career stereotypes based on family income or skin color or gender.
Her personal experience with high school advisers paralleled my own – a counselor who in so many words said “you can’t do that” and parents who stepped in to say “just do it.”
I listened as others in the room shared stories of overcoming real and perceived barriers. Regardless of whether they leaned liberal or conservative, the common thread for all was the influence of each child’s first and most natural mentor – a parent.
Every child needs an adult who encourages them to go around, over and through barriers. It fits right in with the Abraham Lincoln story of the self-made man.
Mothers and fathers define limits and set expectations for each of us from earliest childhood.
The best child care and the most well-meaning bureaucracy will never have the power of a parent who holds a child accountable for working to his or her full potential, grasping opportunity and striving to overcome the difficulty of improving their station.
The most important context for self-made success is a strong family.