Kristof - Quotes

Three quotes that I feel express that main idea of this article are: “A child born in the bottom quintile of incomes in the United States has only a 4 percent chance of rising to the top quintile.” This quote is relevant because its from a Pew Study that supports the idea of hard work not being enough sometimes. Another great quote is “The chance of a person who was born to a family in the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution rising to the top 10 percent as an adult is about the same as the chance that a dad who is 5 feet 6 inches tall having a son who grows up to be over six feet 1 inch tall. It happens, but not often.” this second quote from Alan Kruger is relevant because it basically explains that in this economic world sometimes the only way people can escape their social class is by getting lucky somehow which the chances of that are slim. One last quote that ties together the point of the article is “talent is universal but opportunity is not” The reason why I believe this quote is relevant to the text is because in just seven words it tells you that you can be very talented in this country but that’s not what matters. The thing that matters a good amount of time is if your social class has let you have the opportunity to break through the social statistics.

A comment I would to raise about this article is depending on the person it possibly discourage them a little if they themselves are going through a rough patch  is that no matter how hard things are, or if not everyone believes you can be successful you can't just give in to what people might expect. You have to keep fighting for yourself. If you’re going to live life then it’s probably going to be better if you constantly have to fight to make it the best on possible no matter how hard or daunting it might get. Just because you might not be the MOST successful doesn’t mean you can’t better your life as much as possible. Afterall, it is the only one you’re going to get.