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January 28, 2007
21 Up
My sick husband and I watched a documentary called 21 Up on Saturday night. The documentary interviewed kids when they were 7 years old, 14 and then 21. The documentary is British and almost all the kids ended up in the same social stratosphere as they started out when they were 7. I would love to see if American kids would end differently. In America we have the belief that you work hard you can achieve success. Do American kids switch social stratas more frequently than other countries or is this just a misconception?
I guess until someone does an American version of this documentary we won't know.
Note:
I forgot to mention that the upper class British 21 year-olds were very set on "giving back" to England and making a contribution to their country. I haven't really seen that value instilled among upper class Americans,.but perhaps I'm not hanging around with enough crusties or blue bloods to say this for sure.
Posted by jana at January 28, 2007 9:10 PM
Comments
i watched the "49 Up" installment of this documentary. i felt something similar. they definitely seemed to be more stratified - but perhaps they selected people who were prone to staying in their strata? it wasn't 100% cut and dry at 49 though.
Posted by: :q! at January 29, 2007 9:36 PM
I was going to watch 49 Up soon but maybe it won't be as exciting enough. I want some "breakout" people.
Posted by: Jana at January 29, 2007 10:06 PM