I grew up in a communal flat in post-collapse Ukraine with 5 families to 1 toilet, and then on food stamps when we immigrated to the US. I went to a public high school, and state colleges.
Your point about public investment in resources which were available to anyone who was willing to make a bit of extra effort notwithstanding, many kids from the very same school(s) didn't do so well, and it was far less about "willing to make a bit of extra effort".
>Public policy has changed, that magnet program is now gone, that rich kid school is now for the rich kids only, and it has gone to the dogs in terms of academic performance.
That, sadly, applies to my high school in Brooklyn too (E.R. Murrow High School). It's not at all what it used to be.
> It seems these days that public resources go mostly to those with the most money, or maybe those who were born into the politically correct group du jour, but almost never to the random kid who just wants to take a shot at doing something bigger.
BIGOTRY ALARM BELL
Yeah right. The kids get the resources today because they belonged to a "politically correct group du jour", unlike you, who was merely "willing to make a bit of extra effort".
And also, you know, had a personal computer at home in the 1990s, and lived in a neighborhood with a high school mostly for rich kids.
Uh huh.
>I'm not relating this in order to validate precisely what my Privilege Index was
That much is clear, which is why I'm pointing your attention to it.
Describing yourself as "the random kid who just wants to take a shot at doing something bigger", as opposed to "those who were born into the politically correct group du jour" was absolutely uncalled for.
Instead of "lived in a neighborhood with a high school mostly for rich kids", the line should say "had parents that not only let you tinker with their very expensive machine, but also encouraged you to apply to well-funded magnet schools".
My point - that you owe your success to growing up in that household to a larger extent than other "quirks of chance" - still stands.
I grew up in a communal flat in post-collapse Ukraine with 5 families to 1 toilet, and then on food stamps when we immigrated to the US. I went to a public high school, and state colleges.
Your point about public investment in resources which were available to anyone who was willing to make a bit of extra effort notwithstanding, many kids from the very same school(s) didn't do so well, and it was far less about "willing to make a bit of extra effort".
>Public policy has changed, that magnet program is now gone, that rich kid school is now for the rich kids only, and it has gone to the dogs in terms of academic performance.
That, sadly, applies to my high school in Brooklyn too (E.R. Murrow High School). It's not at all what it used to be.
> It seems these days that public resources go mostly to those with the most money, or maybe those who were born into the politically correct group du jour, but almost never to the random kid who just wants to take a shot at doing something bigger.
BIGOTRY ALARM BELL
Yeah right. The kids get the resources today because they belonged to a "politically correct group du jour", unlike you, who was merely "willing to make a bit of extra effort".
And also, you know, had a personal computer at home in the 1990s, and lived in a neighborhood with a high school mostly for rich kids.
Uh huh.
>I'm not relating this in order to validate precisely what my Privilege Index was
That much is clear, which is why I'm pointing your attention to it.
Describing yourself as "the random kid who just wants to take a shot at doing something bigger", as opposed to "those who were born into the politically correct group du jour" was absolutely uncalled for.