Americans can change their social class, but it's insanely difficult and borders practically impossible. So many factors go into determining your social mobility, an important one being education. 

My grandparents on my dad's side were first generation: my grandma being entirely Polish and my grandpa entirely Italian. When my grandma was thirteen she became a second-mom to her siblings after her mother passed away. She dropped out of school, raised her brothers and sisters, then got married to my grandpa who worked long days at the Chicago Tribune, and had four children. Coming from a lower-class family, my dad worked several low-paying jobs and commuted to the University of Chicago so he could receive a higher education. He worked his way up in the work place and today is the CIO of WMS Gaming. 

I think every generation wants to be bigger and better than the one before. It takes insane amounts of work and effort to move up the social ladder, especially when you're starting from nothing. 


For several years my aunt has worked at a West Chicago public school as a principal and school administrator. A majority of her students' families struggle because they're apart of the lower-class with hardly enough money to buy them food and clothes, let alone a nice place to live in a good community that offers a great education at a public school. So many of these families can only afford cheaper homes or apartments, and the districts that offer them have a poor public education. This only puts their children at a greater risk of living in the same social class as they did. 


Something needs to be done to improve the education and school system in these districts because otherwise too many kids will fall to poverty and the struggles of the lower-class.

Side note: The New York Times dedicated a series to social class in America. For a year they studied social class in our society and titled their series "Class Matters".