The most important divide in America today is class, not race, and the place where it matters most is in the home according to a new book by Robert Putnam

AMONG America's educated elite, the traditional family is thriving according to a new book by Robert Putnam, but the gulf between how the rich and the poor raise their children is growing. Fewer than 10% of births to female college graduates are outside marriage compared to 65% among women with just a high-school education. The children of college-educated parents also benefit from 50% more nurturing time and an ongoing dialogue that helps them to make up their own minds about right and wrong. Working-class and single parents however, who have less spare capacity, are more likely to demand that their kids simply obey them which prevents them from learning to organise their own lives or think for themselves.

Mr Putnam goes on to suggest that family background is a better predictor of whether or not a child will graduate from university than 8th-grade test scores. Kids in the richest quarter with low test scores are as likely to make it through college as kids in the poorest quarter with high scores. As the world grows more complex and the rewards for superior cognitive skills increase, poor parenting becomes an increasing barrier to social mobility.

Read the full review of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, by Robert Putnam here.