OT--predictors of success

I heard a very interesting but simple set of factors that predict success in life, as measured by employment vs unemployed, level of income, home ownership,..mostly stable economic measures.( based upon actual research)

1) Graduate highschool by age 19.

2) No arrests, no record.

3) No children out of wedlock.

Really just common sense when you think about it. Worst pockets of poor and unemployed folks are enclaves with high dropouts rates, high crime rates and in many of those places 70% of births are to unwed mothers.

Real question: is success the result of these 3 factors or are these 3 factors the early result of a path to lifetime success?

Either way, it is a guide for parenting.

Chicken or the egg.

Reminds me of a commercial I saw the other day though from the Department of Health. A "minority" mother warning against letting "your" baby sleep with you. Said you might lay on it and suffocate it,or it might suffocate in your pillow. No mention of a chance that a husband would lay on it and suffocate it.

An article on MSN a few weeks ago mentioned that Texas was going to drop the algebra II requirement for high schools. They also mentioned that students who successfully completed this course had a higher percentage of success in life. I mentioned this to my mom who is a retired math teacher and her opinion was obviously that the math success was the determining factor. My opinion was that intelligence, drive, and who you know made more impact than a math class. The reason that algebra II came into the equation, in my opinion, is because in order to pass this class you had to be average intelligence or better, probably a hard worker, and math is the basis of occupations in science, engineering, statisticians, etc. Those are all high paying fields and that is one measure of success that is used often.
To answer your question, I believe they go hand in hand, but we all probably know that the author of the Harry Potter books failed to meet some of the 3 criteria. I think those 3 indicators are big hurdles but not roadblocks to success. Remember the saying "that which does not kill me makes me stronger". It is all in the viewpoint of the individual. Like in JD Sellers post about his father, this kind of life would hamstring some personalities and make others step up and succeed. His personality happened to thrive in this situation. Perhaps if he had been born into a famous, rich home he would have wasted his life away, who knows.

They show what they want you to believe, similar to 20/20 the other night. The numbers were true, the context was questionable.

It is called being responsible for yourself and a little hard work would go a long ways. I started work at age 12 caddying on a golf course.

Some of those heffers (sp?) could loose a child in a fat fold...

Kind of funny that you are told not to sleep with a child. A good mother pig will try to find her piggies before laying down so she will not smash any. Does this mean a good fat mother pig is smarter than most young parents of today? The human race would have died off if we couldnt sleep with our young. How do you think they kept from freezing before we invented insulation and central heating.

A guy my oldest boy did some work for an guy who told him that "attitude, not aptitude determined altitude". I've seen some rather simple minded people be successful in life because they had a good "can do" attitude and I know some pretty intelligent people that were no way near as successful because they expected to get handed opportunities because they are smart. Smarts and common sense do not necessarily go hand in hand.

Lets face it, a person without a high school diploma isn't going anywhere. My youngest daughter quit school. I was pretty angry but she went and got her GED at 18 and then took a 2 year associate degree and is now working as a medical lab tech. But in general she has a good attitude. But without that attitude she would be flipping burgers. 2 nephews who quit school, waited till they were in their 20's to get a GED are lazy and going nowhere fast. Both work for Wal Mart it's the only jobs they could find.

It bothers me that a school would cut back on any subject. Without algebraII every one of those kids will that decide to attend college will suffer for that.

Rick

How about how much money your folks have? It's easy to be successful if you inherit.

you must not have farrowed pigs without a crate.

I think the surest predictor of success is the individual's attitude:

Am I here to serve? Or to be served?

I like the old saying "The harder I work the luckier I get". A lot of truth to that. I know a lot of not that smart people that made a good living by working hard. I also know a lot of really smart people who couldn't support themselves because they were lazy...

Isn't attitude the main reason people graduate HS, don't get arrested and don't have children they can't support? The 3 items are a factual measure of real attitude, not just the happy talk attitude most youngsters says they have.

Nope, you cna fail all 3 questions even if your Daddy is a billionaire.