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A New York Times review of Robert Putnam's book, Our Kids, summarizes his case for the diverging life chances of children in rich and poor families:

"A majority of rich kids still grow up with two parents.  For poor kids that's increasingly rare.  Rich kids get almost 50 percent more nurturing time from their parents, when there used to be no class difference.  Rich kids have a growing edge in access to good daycare.  The children of less educated parents 'are increasingly entering the world as an unplanned surprise.'

"On it goes as Putnam charts class advantages that start in the womb and widen at every stage.  He is particularly troubled by the class differences in the prevalence of family meals, citing evidence that family dining promotes good grades and behavior.

"Education is supposed to help level the playing field.  Horace Mann called it the 'great equalizer.'  Now it's closer to the great fortifier — compounding the advantages of class, since the affluent come better prepared and more able to pay.  A few decades ago, the gap between rich and poor kids in finishing college was 39 percentage points.  It's now 51 percentage points.  Even poor kids with high test scores are slightly less likely to get degrees than rich kids with low scores."

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