Success Sequence

More than 20 years ago, Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill at the Brookings Institution sifted the social science data and found that anyone who finishes high school, works full-time, and marries before having children almost never experiences poverty. They called this the "success sequence". What the sequence misses is that each of these steps is enormously complex. It takes a lot of parental attention, energy, and love before a child crosses the stage at a high school graduation. Social networks are critical to finding a full-time job. Having marriage just arguably the most complex challenge of all. Looked at this way, it's not so much a sequence as a decades-long dialogue between the individual, their family and friends, and the community. Education, work, and marriage are the marks of a successful life as it unfolds. We owe Haskins and Sawhill a profound thanks for bringing us the success sequence. The job now is developing the strategies for strengthening families and communities so that more people find the path and stay on it.