Ohio Bill Proposes Mandating Success Sequence Education
The Ohio legislature is considering joining the list of states that mandate character education, including the 'success sequence.'
HB 269, called the THRIVE Act, would require schools to teach students the success sequence as well as fifteen values 'deeply rooted in the history and tradition of the United States.' Those include trustworthiness, kindness and generosity, respect and care for human life, respect for parental authority, respect for patriotism, respect for religious faith, gratitude, and courage.
The success sequence and character education curriculum would be created for grades 7 through 12.
The success sequence has been touted by numerous conservative groups. The Institute for Family Studies calls it 'a proven path to the American dream.' The Heritage Society, one of the groups linked to Project 2025, created model state and district policy for promoting the sequence.
The sequence is most commonly described as
1) Finish high school
2) Get a full-time job
3) Get married
4) Have children.
The promise is that this will lead to a life that will be, if not prosperous, at least free of poverty. It uses individual action, rather than policy and legislative solutions, to address poverty.
The success sequence surfaced in 2006 in a report by Barbara Whitehead and Marline Pearson focused on teen pregnancy. Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute, and the Institute for Family Studies have all popularized the idea. IFS published research that claimed 97% of millennials who followed the sequence avoid poverty as adults.
Critics have pointed out problems with that research. Michael Tanner of the libertarian Cato Institute noted that it confuses correlation with causation:
Ownership of a private jet is even more strongly associated with financial success, yet that doesn't mean jet ownership is what allowed these individuals to escape poverty. And we certainly shouldn't blame the poor for the failure to pursue jet ownership.
Matt Bruenig writing for People's Policy Project noted two issues. One was that the bit of research often cited made different assumptions about what the sequence actually involved (e.g. Should students get a job right out of high school, or after they are 21?). More importantly, the research simply omitted huge numbers of poor people from its data base.
Rachel Cohen Booth, writing for Vox, questions the sequence itself:
There's little to back up the claim that the exact sequence matters. A 2021 study funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services found that young adults who finish high school, work full time, and get married are less likely to experience poverty, but the specific order doesn't seem to matter much.
The sequence raises many questions. Should both young men and women get a full time job before marriage and children? The Heritage Foundation has also argued that women are spending too much time getting education, thereby hurting the nation's birth rate. But if new sequence-aware couples are getting starter jobs just out of high school, how are they supposed to afford having a baby right away? And what about all the other societal factors that affect poverty? If the success sequence is important, why not pursue policy goals that would support it (such as cheaper child care, or easily available birth control) rather than simply making it one more thing that schools are mandated to teach?
The bill's main sponsors are Kevin Ritter and Johnathan Newman, both freshman representatives. Newman is a 'pastor entrepreneur' who has started a new Southern Baptist affiliate church. Ritter has run a business, taught history, and co-founded a Veritas Classical Academy.
'Our public schools are crucial partners in this mission. A well-rounded education is more than reading, writing and arithmetic. It includes teaching kids that good life choices will enable them to thrive and be happy,' said Rep. Ritter, quoted by American Family Association. 'Our bill also teaches what I call Grandma's Recipe for Success. If you graduate high school, get a job, get married and have kids, in that order, you're going to have a pretty good life. Of course, we may not always follow what grandma says, but we all know it's good advice kids need to hear.'
The idea sounds appealing, but Grandma probably didn't follow the sequence. 1970 was the first year in our country's history that more than half of Americans graduated from high school.
Tennessee and Utah both now have laws requiring that the 'success sequence' be taught in school. Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas considered similar laws this year.
I reached out to Rep. Ritter's office; if he offers comment, it will be added to this post.
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