Is America Truly An "Achievement Culture?"

Our public schools are god-awful and 51% of our kids end up in service roles. Are we truly an "achievement culture," or is that a narrative we spin up to feel better?

Deeply tied up in the American narrative is this idea that we’re an achievement culture, and we go get it, we hustle, we grind, we outwork, all that kinda stuff. It’s the heart of “The Bootstraps Narrative,” which is the cousin of “Achievement Culture,” and is the rationale we use for not broadening the social safety net, whereas the real reason is pay …