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Paths to Success : Beating the Odds in American Society
Paths to Success Beating the Odds in American Society Author:Susan K. Boardman, Charles Harrington Statisticians tell us that impoverished backgrounds are fairly accurate predictors of individuals' futures. This book seeks out the stories behind the exceptions: those who, against all odds, have made the American myth of rags-to-riches a reality. "An excellent exploratory study that examines the lives of one hundred Americans who a... more »chieved success in their careers. In studying this upwardly mobile population, the authors examine the factors that led to this achievement, and in the reporting, they allow the reader to have a rare glimpse of at least one population that 'beats the odds.' Whether children of poverty with uneducated parents or those from middle-class homes and educated parents, the stories of the 'Pathmakers' make for fascinating reading." —Yolanda T. Moses, President, City College of New York "Paths to Success is a stereotype-bursting book. It describes pathmakers who achieve by beating the odds that are stacked against them. These resilient people defy normative expectations. This book celebrates people who lie beyond the norm and indicates why social scientists should be concerned with analyzing coefficients of dispersion in behavior as well as determining normative patterns." —Charles Willie, Harvard Graduate School of Education« less