This is an outstanding synthesis that seems well supported by facts. It is totally consistent with this old man's observations and life experience. I am surprised only by the source: NYT. Both the information presented and conclusions seem to conflict (rather violently) with the normal NYT editorial bias.
Thanks for sharing. Scott -----Original Message----- From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of arche...@embarqmail.com Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2014 5:10 PM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: [MBZ] WHAT DRIVES SUCCESS IN AMERICA? What Drives Success? A SEEMINGLY un-American fact about America today is that for some groups, much more than others, upward mobility and the American dream are alive and well. It may be taboo to say it, but certain ethnic, religious and national-origin groups are doing strikingly better than Americans overall. Indian-Americans earn almost double the national figure (roughly $90,000 per year in median household income versus $50,000). Iranian-, Lebanese- and Chinese-Americans are also top-earners. In the last 30 years, Mormons have become leaders of corporate America, holding top positions in many of Americas most recognizable companies. These facts dont make some groups better than others, and material success cannot be equated with a well-lived life. But willful blindness to facts is never a good policy. Jewish success is the most historically fraught and the most broad-based. Although Jews make up only about 2 percent of the United States adult population, they account for a third of the current Supreme Court; over two-thirds of Tony Award-winning lyricists and composers; and about a third of American Nobel laureates. The most comforting explanation of these facts is that they are mere artifacts of class rich parents passing on advantages to their children or of immigrants arriving in this country with high skill and education levels. Important as these factors are, they explain only a small part of the picture. Todays wealthy Mormon businessmen often started from humble origins. Although India and China send the most immigrants to the United States through employment-based channels, almost half of all Indian immigrants and over half of Chinese immigrants do not enter the country under those criteria. Many are poor and poorly educated. Comprehensive data published by the Russell Sage Foundation in 2013 showed that the children of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese immigrants experienced exceptional upward mobility regardless of their parents socioeconomic or educational background. Take New York Citys selective public high schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, which are major Ivy League feeders. For the 2013 school year, Stuyvesant High School offered admission, based solely on a standardized entrance exam, to nine black students, 24 Hispanics, 177 whites and 620 Asians. Among the Asians of Chinese origin, many are the children of restaurant workers and other working-class immigrants. Merely stating the fact that certain groups do better than others as measured by income, test scores and so on is enough to provoke a firestorm in America today, and even charges of racism. The irony is that the facts actually debunk racial stereotypes. There are some black and Hispanic groups in America that far outperform some white and Asian groups. Immigrants from many West Indian and African countries, such as Jamaica, Ghana, and Haiti, are climbing Americas higher education ladder, but perhaps the most prominent are Nigerians. Nigerians make up less than 1 percent of the black population in the United States, yet in 2013 nearly one-quarter of the black students at Harvard Business School were of Nigerian ancestry; over a fourth of Nigerian-Americans have a graduate or professional degree, as compared with only about 11 percent of whites. Cuban-Americans in Miami rose in one generation from widespread penury to relative affluence. By 1990, United States-born Cuban children whose parents had arrived as exiles, many with practically nothing were twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to earn over $50,000 a year. All three Hispanic United States senators are Cuban-Americans. Meanwhile, some Asian-American groups Cambodian- and Hmong-Americans, for example are among the poorest in the country, as are some predominantly white communities in central Appalachia. MOST fundamentally, groups rise and fall over time. The fortunes of WASP elites have been declining for decades. In 1960, second-generation Greek-Americans reportedly had the second-highest income of any census-tracked group. Group success in America often tends to dissipate after two generations. Thus while Asian-American kids overall had SAT scores 143 points above average in 2012 including a 63-point edge over whites a 2005 study of over 20,000 adolescents found that third-generation Asian-American students performed no better academically than white students. The fact that groups rise and fall this way punctures the whole idea of model minorities or that groups succeed because of innate, biological differences. Rather, there are cultural forces at work. It turns out that for all their diversity, the strikingly successful groups in America today share three traits that, together, propel success. The first is a superiority complex a deep-seated belief in their exceptionality. The second appears to be the opposite insecurity, a feeling that you or what youve done is not good enough. The third is impulse control. Any individual, from any background, can have what we call this Triple Package of traits. But research shows that some groups are instilling them more frequently than others, and that they are enjoying greater success. Its odd to think of people feeling simultaneously superior and insecure. Yet its precisely this unstable combination that generates drive: a chip on the shoulder, a goading need to prove oneself. Add impulse control the ability to resist temptation and the result is people who systematically sacrifice present gratification in pursuit of future attainment. Ironically, each element of the Triple Package violates a core tenet of contemporary American thinking. We know that group superiority claims are specious and dangerous, yet every one of Americas most successful groups tells itself that its exceptional in a deep sense. Mormons believe they are gods in embryo placed on earth to lead the world to salvation; they see themselves, in the historian Claudia L. Bushmans words, as an island of morality in a sea of moral decay. Middle East experts and many Iranians explicitly refer to a Persian superiority complex. At their first Passover Seders, most Jewish children hear that Jews are the chosen people; later they may be taught that Jews are a moral people, a people of law and intellect, a people of survivors. That insecurity should be a lever of success is another anathema in American culture. Feelings of inadequacy are cause for concern or even therapy; parents deliberately instilling insecurity in their children is almost unthinkable. Yet insecurity runs deep in every one of Americas rising groups; and consciously or unconsciously, they tend to instill it in their children. A central finding in a study of more than 5,000 immigrants children led by the sociologist Rubén G. Rumbaut was how frequently the kids felt motivated to achieve because of an acute sense of obligation to redeem their parents sacrifices. Numerous studies, including in-depth field work conducted by the Harvard sociologist Vivian S. Louie, reveal Chinese immigrant parents frequently imposing exorbitant academic expectations on their children (Why only a 99?), making them feel that family honor depends on their success. By contrast, white American parents have been found to be more focused on building childrens social skills and self-esteem. Theres an ocean of difference between Youre amazing. Mommy and Daddy never want you to worry about a thing and If you dont do well at school, youll let down the family and end up a bum on the streets. In a study of thousands of high school students, Asian-American students reported the lowest self-esteem of any racial group, even as they racked up the highest grades. Moreover, being an outsider in a society and Americas most successful groups are all outsiders in one way or another is a source of insecurity in itself. Immigrants worry about whether they can survive in a strange land, often communicating a sense of lifes precariousness to their children. Hence the common credo: They can take away your home or business, but never your education, so study harder. Newcomers and religious minorities may face derision or hostility. Cubans fleeing to Miami after Fidel Castros takeover reported seeing signs reading No dogs, no Cubans on apartment buildings. During the 2012 election cycle, Mormons had to hear Mitt Romneys clean-cut sons described as creepy in the media. In combination with a superiority complex, the feeling of being underestimated or scorned can be a powerful motivator. Finally, impulse control runs against the grain of contemporary culture as well. Countless books and feel-good movies extol the virtue of living in the here and now, and people who control their impulses dont live in the moment. The dominant culture is fearful of spoiling childrens happiness with excessive restraints or demands. By contrast, every one of Americas most successful groups takes a very different view of childhood, inculcating habits of discipline from a very early age or at least they did so when they were on the rise. In isolation, each of these three qualities would be insufficient. Alone, a superiority complex is a recipe for complacency; mere insecurity could be crippling; impulse control can produce asceticism. Only in combination do these qualities generate drive and what Tocqueville called the longing to rise. Needless to say, high-achieving groups dont instill these qualities in all their members. They dont have to. A culture producing, say, four high achievers out of 10 would attain wildly disproportionate success if the surrounding average was one out of 20. But this success comes at a price. Each of the three traits has its own pathologies. Impulse control can undercut the ability to experience beauty, tranquillity and spontaneous joy. Insecure people feel like theyre never good enough. I grew up thinking that I would never, ever please my parents, recalls the novelist Amy Tan. Its a horrible feeling. Recent studies suggest that Asian-American youth have greater rates of stress (but, despite media reports to the contrary, lower rates of suicide). A superiority complex can be even more invidious. Group supremacy claims have been a source of oppression, war and genocide throughout history. To be sure, a group superiority complex somehow feels less ugly when its used by an outsider minority as an armor against majority prejudices and hostility, but ethnic pride or religious zeal can turn all too easily into intolerance of its own. Even when it functions relatively benignly as an engine of success, the combination of these three traits can still be imprisoning precisely because of the kind of success it tends to promote. Individuals striving for material success can easily become too focused on prestige and money, too concerned with external measures of their own worth. Its not easy for minority groups in America to maintain a superiority complex. For most of its history, America did pretty much everything a country could to impose a narrative of inferiority on its nonwhite minorities and especially its black population. Over and over, African-Americans have fought back against this narrative, but its legacy persists. Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld are professors at Yale Law School and the authors of the forthcoming book The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/opinion/sunday/what-drives-success.html?nl =todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140126&_r=1 _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
