The "Achievement Culture" Myth

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 don’t want to pay more in taxes. (Understood.)

But like, in reality, are we really an achievement culture? Most of our public schools are horrible. Our colleges are good and the envy of the world, but arguably too expensive. We don’t really value workers that much. We have a terrible track record on mental health among other developed nations. We allow ideology to creep into every crevice of public discourse. A lot of companies are terrible and were even founded just to eventually be sold and benefit the 2–3 initial guys. I’m not sure we even support new parents that much, especially the moms.

So how come we keep saying that?