the majority of people in the United States remain in the social class of their birth.
I am one of the very, very, few who pulled herself up by those non-existent boot straps. I raised 2 kids, worked, sometimes 2 jobs, and put myself through school. I paid all of my student loans. I bankrupted myself rescuing my grandson from a life-threatening health crisis. In my 50s, I don't have a lot to show for "pulling myself up."
Those 2 kids? One did just like I did...became a parent straight out of high school and gave up his plans for college to raise the kid.
The other did 2 years at community college, then left to take a retail job, which paid him more after 2 years than I was making after 2 decades in education. When the economy crashed and he was laid off, he went back to school, finished his BA, and is finishing his MA this year. His student loan debt terrifies me. He's going to be 35 next month, and it may take him the rest of his life to pay it down.
None of us have lived that middle class life with the nicer home, the newer cars, the vacations, etc..
We're in better shape than the generations before me, but not by much.
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