Alabama public school students will soon be taught that their best chance to avoid poverty is a three-pronged formula: Obtain, at a minimum, a high school diploma, find full-time employment and delay parenthood until marriage.
Called the “success sequence,” the idea has been around for a few decades and is now working its way into law in several states, most recently Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey signed the legislation earlier this month. It was sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur.
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“I think it’s incredibly important to make sure young people know that if they do these three things, the research shows — it’s not somebody’s opinion — the research shows that there’s a 97% chance that they will not be in poverty 10 years later,” Orr told Alabama Daily News.
“Unfortunately, a lot of young people don’t learn these things from parents or guardians or grow up in environments where some or all these things aren’t taught and aren’t modeled. And that’s not to cast stones at a single mom or somebody rearing their children today, not at all. It’s looking prospectively at that 16, 17 or 18 year old today.”
The new law requires that beginning in the 2026–27 school year, all students will receive instruction in the success sequence at least twice before they graduate from high school.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mary Sell and originally published by the Alabama Daily News.
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