Originally Posted by Dude
Originally Posted by Bostonian
A generation ago, working-class parents spent slightly more time with their kids than college-educated parents. Now college-educated parents spend an hour more every day. This attention gap is largest in the first three years of life when it is most important.

Because a generation ago, two incomes were not necessary for survival in a working-class family.

Originally Posted by Bostonian
Affluent parents also invest more money in their children. Over the last 40 years upper-income parents have increased the amount they spend on their kids’ enrichment activities, like tutoring and extra curriculars, by $5,300 a year. The financially stressed lower classes have only been able to increase their investment by $480, adjusted for inflation.

And not coincidentally, working-class incomes have been stagnant for the last generation, whereas upper-class incomes have risen sharply over that same span.

I think it's a matter of values and knowledge, not just income.
As Brooks writes in his latest column "Why Our Elites Stink" http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/opinion/brooks-why-our-elites-stink.html ,

"I’d say today’s meritocratic elites achieve and preserve their status not mainly by being corrupt but mainly by being ambitious and disciplined. They raise their kids in organized families. They spend enormous amounts of money and time on enrichment. They work much longer hours than people down the income scale, driving their kids to piano lessons and then taking part in conference calls from the waiting room.

Phenomena like the test-prep industry are just the icing on the cake, giving some upper-middle-class applicants a slight edge over other upper-middle-class applicants. The real advantages are much deeper and more honest."