Anecdotes can be infuriating. They're true, but not the rule. Most upper-class kids who graduate get good jobs, but seriously--at some point the stupidity of an upper-crust dolt costs more than firing the brat would. Few people running a company like having parasites on the payroll, unless employing said parasite is a precondition for some big payoff.
The bigger problem is that a lot of the perks of living in a middle, upper-middle, or upper-class family are purely financial. We hear of stress, but there's a lot of stress when families break up, jobs are lost, etc. We seldom hear talk of *rates* because then it would show that it's not a case of stressed-and-poor versus non-stressed-and-prosperous but more-stressed-if-poor. Even then, we usually also hear this couched in terms of anecdotes--little Juan or Leticia versus little Biff or Heather. We Americans aren't good at those nasty little stats.
Most of the perks of living in a middle, upper-middle, or upper-class family are based on family characteristics. Better educations. Different interactional styles. More 2-parent families. Able to afford more consistent day care, instead of using neighbors and friends. Once the kid's able to take advantage of them, more educational "enrichment" activities for the more prosperous kids--trips and vacations, more emphasis on things that teach academics and not motor skills.
Where I live most of the guys are kicked out of the house at some point and play ball or chase girls. Most of the girls are coopted for housework or see themselves as primarily needing to attract male attention. "Why are you reading that book! It's a nice day, you should be outside."
It's what my mother said to me. She was a high-school drop out. My father was the one who took me to the library. He graduated high school (and only high school), but even when I was in elementary school took me to see caves and museums and pushed to make me college-ready.
You could see it in a guy I knew in grad school. His peers were in string quartets or piano quartets, wrote poetry or discussed travels or the niceties of Malaysian versus Kenyan food. He was the son of a postal carrier and 7-11 employee, and never learned to play an instrument, wasn't good at any foreign language, hadn't travelled, and whose interests were football, basketball, and the sports page. He lasted barely two years before he dropped out, feeling inferior.
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