The news that nearly 1 out of 6 children in Japan now lives in poverty is a distinction exceeded most unconscionably only by the United States, where more than half of all children fall into that category. Despite the occasional stories of students who manage to overcome the handicaps of their backgrounds by what is popularly referred to as grit, the reality is that in both countries upward mobility is decidedly restricted.

Programs to help these children place heavy emphasis on the role that a quality education plays. But a report by the Pew Charitable Trust's Economic Mobility Project found that 70 percent of children whose parents were in the bottom fifth of the income ladder stayed below the middle as adults.

In contrast, 63 percent of children born in the top fifth of the income ladder stayed above the middle when they became adults. That's because out-of-school factors are three times more powerful in affecting learning than inside-the-school factors.