Once upon a time, way back in the day, life was simple. It was a life of extremes: privileged and poor, educated and ignorant, good and evil, king and enemy. People didn’t have much control over their destinies and accepted that. It was a life of few options and few choices. To question the king was considered treason, so, “off with your head!” So, people went with the flow.

Am I overgeneralizing? A little. Is what I just wrote necessarily accurate? Maybe. But I do have a point.

Especially for women, there were very few options in times past. A woman of lesser means might consider a few occupations: healer/midwife, farmwife, or perhaps a servant in a noble household. She was almost always married unless she entered a convent. A “middle-class” woman would maybe be a seamstress or the wife of a merchant or shopkeeper. A noblewoman would have the best chance of being educated and would probably lead a privileged life, looking over a household and managing a staff of servants.

Even for men, unless born the first child, options were few: become a soldier, a farmer, or hope the older brother dies (in order to inherit). More daring men might make a living by becoming a merchant (or a pirate!) or traveling to the New World to seek a fortune. Men had more freedom than women and more opportunities for apprenticeships and occupations.

However, most people did not venture far from the place of their birth or their station in life. Most people had few options about their futures. But, a lack of options simplifies things. Which goes back to my main point: life was simple, way back when.

But that’s not where we are today. We are in the age of “dreams do come true,” “if you can dream it, you can achieve it,” and “you can be or do anything, so long as you put your mind to it,” We are in the age of endless possibilities and endless opportunities. Or are we?

It’s not uncommon to hear a story about a self-starter who made a daring business venture and ended up a millionaire (or at least well-off) or that kid who got a free ride to Harvard. There are plenty of motivational speakers out there who “grew up in the slums” but made the right choices and stuck to school so they got out and are successful. For those of us already in school, these stories serve as proof for why we’re here: we can see these endless opportunities that education can provide.

In all actuality, things haven’t changed that much. Despite the seemingly “endless opportunities” that come with this day and age, a surprising amount of people stay where they grew up, even with postsecondary education.

According to Timothy J. Bartik, a researcher who studies the proportion of adults living where they grew up across different demographics, overall people are about 65 percent more likely to stay in the area they grew up than move away. However, high school dropouts and high school graduates are the most likely to stay put (about 80 percent) while those with a bachelors degree (53 percent) and doctorate (49 percent) are not as likely to stay put.

But does “staying put” necessarily equate to fewer opportunities? No. But those statistics mentioned in the previous paragraph show that those with no postsecondary education are most likely to stay in the place they grew up while those with postsecondary education are about as likely to move away as stay put. This could reflect job availability, a relationship that formed during college or attending college in another location.

We seem to think that we have control over our destinies, that the lifestyle we’re born into may not be the lifestyle we die in. Compared to the “good old days” of yesteryear, life seems full of choices… but if we take a look, there really hasn’t been that much change.