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The greatest factor of a person's success is their family.
I teach low level classes and honors classes. The low level kids have an average GPA of less than 2. The honors kids have an average GPA of about 4.
Why the difference? Family. The low level kids are mostly from broken or dysfunctional homes, divorced parents, alcohol or drug abuse, physical or mental abuse. Honors kids mostly have secure homes with both parents living together.
How do these kids make out when they are older? Some will succeed if they can leave their destructive childhoods behind. Others will not and will likely continue the cycle with their children.
Did you just move the goalposts?
Is 'okay' supposed to equal relatively successful or is it less than that?
"Relatively successful" wasn't quantified. I mark it as having a job, supporting themselves and staying out of trouble. Which is pretty much all we can ask.
Not everyone is Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Thank God.
If "relatively successful" is "graduating from college" then 70% of the population is unsuccessful. Which is one of the problems in all these types of threads, so many of the participants have no exposure to that 70% and so assume everyone is just like them in the 30%. I saw that in countless teachers in my career, they'd been in school since they were 5 and knew nothing else.
I'm wondering if that "small number" is larger than we think. I've noticed that sometimes, the ones that aren't able to make it cluster in families. That points to the fact that in those cases, there's something in the family environment that contributed to their lack of success. Some end up dependent on parents much of their adult lives. Others end up in the criminal justice system. With the COL skyrocketing in some urban areas, it's getting harder for the low achievers to just muddle through marginally. Maybe some of them are among the homeless population now, if rents have far exceeded low-wage job income.
I don't know about larger but family pathologies are absolutely at play. I've been out of high school for almost 50 years and the kids then who came from ne'er do well families then are now ne'er do well themselves.
For middle class children grades have little to do with making it to the lower middle class or upper working class but have a lot to do with making it to the upper middle class and beyond. For poorer children grades are MUCH more important because mommy and daddy can't subsidize them until they figure **** out.
"Relatively successful" wasn't quantified. I mark it as having a job, supporting themselves and staying out of trouble. Which is pretty much all we can ask.
Not everyone is Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Thank God.
If "relatively successful" is "graduating from college" then 70% of the population is unsuccessful. Which is one of the problems in all these types of threads, so many of the participants have no exposure to that 70% and so assume everyone is just like them in the 30%. I saw that in countless teachers in my career, they'd been in school since they were 5 and knew nothing else.
I got the impression that the OP is not that old, as it seemed like she was saying most people were going to college and had minimum wage jobs as if those two together were successful. The other person has law enforcement involvement and is “not successful.â€
There is a big range in between that- people who finish high school and don’t go to college, work minimum wage throughout life, barely struggling to make ends meet. I wouldn’t say they are successful. There are other people who don’t go to college and are able to do very well in the trades or in some other career that does not require college. I have also met people who dropped out of HS, ultimately went back and ended up getting graduate degrees in various subjects. Having an obstacle in high school doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all over for you, but it does make it a lot harder.
A friend of mine signed herself out of h.s.
Fast forward 38 yrs. She is the city's v.p of the library. I marvel at the path she took to get there. She spent her teens up into her late 20's working in manufacturing. She went back to get her g.e.d. while getting her h.s.certificate ,she was mentored by a library staff member. She decided to work there helping tutor others.
One opportunity led to another. She doesn't advocate staying in school ...She advocates reading,researching,and applying yourself.
I'd say she is a success..and she would modestly agree.
I was successful at botching most of the opportunities laid before me. Does that count? I did after all succeed at failure pretty darn well *wink*
If you get mostly C’s, D’s and F’s in high school, then that is likely going to affect you negatively for the rest of your life. That is, unless you go against the odds and make a dramatic turnaround afterwards.
Grades, like elections, have consequences.
I can’t say it’s going to affect you negatively for the rest of your life, it’s not like your high school transcript will follow you to college or your college transcript will follow you to to your careerfield. Why? Because there is always a regionally accredited college or graduate school that accepts 100% of applicants.
My sister didn’t get bad grades in high school, she just dropped out entirely. Then she went back to get her GED, joined the army, and is easily clearing atleast $80K plus benefits.
The point is that in America, even the people who did poorly in high school have plenty of options. That is what makes this country so damn good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fred44
The greatest factor of a person's success is their family.
Family? No. Sometimes one sibling will do better than the other. Parental involvement and active intervention? Yes, that is a big factor.
The highest achievers in my high school came from backgrounds where the parents held them accountable. The low achievers simply had parents who were too busy to be bothered and used the school system as nothing more than a babysittter for their children, due to the neglect, disinterest, and unavailability they had for them in a dysfunctional household.
A lot of parents are setting their children up for failure.
Something to consider (sadly) is that the cohort shrinks by the time you are 40.
Suicides. Overdoses. Ending up in long-term incarceration. Getting stabbed to death under a bridge in your cardboard house....these people you went to school with that disappear over the years still factor into the equation somehow.
I'm just pointing out that we recognize the poor student that turned out doing really well (I know several including my brother in law that was learning disabled and went on to a long corporate career making great money) but nobody pops onto facebook saying they're making $8/hour at subway and got parole and are living in their van.
Perception is everything and ugly reality is often hidden.
Is family important? Without question. They set the standards and expectations. But sometimes that is not enough. My daughter didn't stay in school. She was a real hellraiser! She did get her GED and never spent a day in college. Today, 20 years later, she is the COO of a large national mortgage company. All of her cousins did well extremely well in high school and college but don't have her "drive" for success.
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