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Exactly my point, folks with privilege like yourself don't even understand what privilege they have and have taken advantage of their whole life. I did (apply

Exactly my point, folks with privilege like yourself don't even understand what privilege they have and have taken advantage of their whole life. I did (apply myself). I did work my ass off to get into, and out of, (good) engineering school and pay for it also. It simply wasn't an option for me to go to an expensive private or out of state school with a price tag of a couple hundred thousand dollars. So I went to the best school I could afford. Many folks are in this boat. It's not for a lack of trying or intelligence - it's for a lack of privilege. Edit - I also want to acknowledge that compared to many folks in the world I am very privileged. It only serves to highlight my point even further. These statements are less about me personally and more about me recognizing that I, and many others in our HN world are very privileged in one way or another as compared to he average American, or Human.

selestify 5y ago
My family was so poor, I got into college for free. Talk about unprivileged.
- iancmceachern 5y ago
  But you had the privilege if uncommon intelligence and test taking ability. Not all privilege is money.
  - selestify 5y ago
    Too bad. Life isn’t fair. Evolution got us to where we were, and I’m glad that we have consciousness due to relentless natural selection.
    - iancmceachern 5y ago
      I'm not complaining about it. Just recognizing it.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    You're going to have to pick one between >>> So I went to the best school I could afford. Many folks are in this boat. It's not for a lack of trying or intelligence - it's for a lack of privilege. and > But you had the privilege [o]f uncommon intelligence and test taking ability. Not all privilege is money.
    - iancmceachern 5y ago
      Not really. It's not so black and white. My point is that above a certain threshold of GPA/test scores/"intelligence" college is free. If you are below that threshold college is not. For those of us that were below that threshold, for whatever reason, we had to figure out how to pay for it. Within that bucket there are people who's family can just pay for it, no matter how expensive (these are the people going to Harvard and Wharton out of pocket), and there are those who simply can't afford to pay 200k for an education because they don't have it. Those folks then choose state Schools (which I went to and are wonderful). My point is that the average graduate of Wharton has a much higher average starting salary than the average state school. Therefore tying a family's ability to pay more tuition with a graduates average salary being higher. It's simply the way the world works. The rich get richer.
      - thaumasiotes 5y ago
        So just to be clear, you're repudiating your statement that when people can't afford to attend college, that's not for lack of intelligence on their part?
        iancmceachern 5y ago
        I never made such a statement. This is reductio ad absurdum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum
        thaumasiotes 5y ago
        Sorry, where did the "reduction" occur in rephrasing "above a certain intelligence, college is free" to "if you can't afford college, you're missing some intelligence"? The one is just the logical contrapositive of the other.
- jandrewrogers 5y ago
  Nonsense, you were privileged to be the right kind of "poor", the kind of poor that the system caters to. Just because the system gave you a big hand up does not imply that it does for everyone in equal conditions. You were privileged and you don't even realize it. There are many poor people that are never given that opportunity regardless of ability. To those people, you had an easy path.
beauzero 5y ago
Please stop using that word. It sucks the life from you because you think it excuses you from self analyzing why you aren't happy where you are. Life is not fair if you are a human, cat, squirrel or mouse. We are born into a specific set of conditions...look around and move but please stop using the word privilege. Everyone and everything is different.
- iancmceachern 5y ago
  I am very happy where I am. Within myself, I am not blaming anything for lack of anything but rather celebrate my successes and what has come from my hard work. That doesn't mean I can't recognize that folks are different, and that where we start out most definitely has an impact on how far we go.
- Dudeman112 5y ago
  Just what is it with extra privileged people and being allergic to admitting it. You seriously, honestly, from the bottom of your heart, think that 90% of the 70k people living in the Complexo do Alemão are just lazy and don't fix their lives due to sloth? Before you start, I'm happy with my life and my circumstances.
  - beauzero 5y ago
    As I have gotten older I regret the opportunities I didn't take or passed up because I was focused on others. Don't let my regrets be yours.
    - Dudeman112 5y ago
      What does that have to do with the discussion?
- DarylZero 5y ago
- Ancapistani 5y ago
  I actually agree with this, if only because of the political connotations the term “privilege” has acquired. I think a better term would be “advantages”. It adequately describes the meaning that’s being conveyed without carrying the implication that it’s necessarily completely outside of the individual’s control.
e4e78a06 5y ago
I went to a public in-state school with poor parents. Full need-based financial aid in school. I made 6 figures out of school and currently make the big numbers you claim are impossibly rare. You claim that not everyone is intelligent enough to make it into these schools in another post but we know from science that even just changing the way you study can improve performance by half a standard deviation [1]. So maybe you just didn't work as hard as the competition? Maybe you didn't look at all the aspects of _how_ you work and do some self-reflection about working more efficiently? Don't blame intelligence when your own decisions have much more impact on overall performance than 10-20 points of IQ do. Why do you think Asians comprise 50% of school populations where affirmative action is banned? Hint: it's not because of superior intelligence, but work ethic. [1]: https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-repetition https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-repetition

selestify 5y ago

My family was so poor, I got into college for free. Talk about unprivileged.

iancmceachern 5y ago
But you had the privilege if uncommon intelligence and test taking ability. Not all privilege is money.
- selestify 5y ago
  Too bad. Life isn’t fair. Evolution got us to where we were, and I’m glad that we have consciousness due to relentless natural selection.
  - iancmceachern 5y ago
    I'm not complaining about it. Just recognizing it.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  You're going to have to pick one between >>> So I went to the best school I could afford. Many folks are in this boat. It's not for a lack of trying or intelligence - it's for a lack of privilege. and > But you had the privilege [o]f uncommon intelligence and test taking ability. Not all privilege is money.
  - iancmceachern 5y ago
    Not really. It's not so black and white. My point is that above a certain threshold of GPA/test scores/"intelligence" college is free. If you are below that threshold college is not. For those of us that were below that threshold, for whatever reason, we had to figure out how to pay for it. Within that bucket there are people who's family can just pay for it, no matter how expensive (these are the people going to Harvard and Wharton out of pocket), and there are those who simply can't afford to pay 200k for an education because they don't have it. Those folks then choose state Schools (which I went to and are wonderful). My point is that the average graduate of Wharton has a much higher average starting salary than the average state school. Therefore tying a family's ability to pay more tuition with a graduates average salary being higher. It's simply the way the world works. The rich get richer.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      So just to be clear, you're repudiating your statement that when people can't afford to attend college, that's not for lack of intelligence on their part?
      - iancmceachern 5y ago
        I never made such a statement. This is reductio ad absurdum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum
        thaumasiotes 5y ago
        Sorry, where did the "reduction" occur in rephrasing "above a certain intelligence, college is free" to "if you can't afford college, you're missing some intelligence"? The one is just the logical contrapositive of the other.
jandrewrogers 5y ago
Nonsense, you were privileged to be the right kind of "poor", the kind of poor that the system caters to. Just because the system gave you a big hand up does not imply that it does for everyone in equal conditions. You were privileged and you don't even realize it. There are many poor people that are never given that opportunity regardless of ability. To those people, you had an easy path.

beauzero 5y ago

Please stop using that word. It sucks the life from you because you think it excuses you from self analyzing why you aren't happy where you are. Life is not fair if you are a human, cat, squirrel or mouse. We are born into a specific set of conditions...look around and move but please stop using the word privilege. Everyone and everything is different.

iancmceachern 5y ago
I am very happy where I am. Within myself, I am not blaming anything for lack of anything but rather celebrate my successes and what has come from my hard work. That doesn't mean I can't recognize that folks are different, and that where we start out most definitely has an impact on how far we go.
Dudeman112 5y ago
Just what is it with extra privileged people and being allergic to admitting it. You seriously, honestly, from the bottom of your heart, think that 90% of the 70k people living in the Complexo do Alemão are just lazy and don't fix their lives due to sloth? Before you start, I'm happy with my life and my circumstances.
- beauzero 5y ago
  As I have gotten older I regret the opportunities I didn't take or passed up because I was focused on others. Don't let my regrets be yours.
  - Dudeman112 5y ago
    What does that have to do with the discussion?
DarylZero 5y ago
Ancapistani 5y ago
I actually agree with this, if only because of the political connotations the term “privilege” has acquired. I think a better term would be “advantages”. It adequately describes the meaning that’s being conveyed without carrying the implication that it’s necessarily completely outside of the individual’s control.

e4e78a06 5y ago

I went to a public in-state school with poor parents. Full need-based financial aid in school. I made 6 figures out of school and currently make the big numbers you claim are impossibly rare. You claim that not everyone is intelligent enough to make it into these schools in another post but we know from science that even just changing the way you study can improve performance by half a standard deviation [1]. So maybe you just didn't work as hard as the competition? Maybe you didn't look at all the aspects of _how_ you work and do some self-reflection about working more efficiently? Don't blame intelligence when your own decisions have much more impact on overall performance than 10-20 points of IQ do. Why do you think Asians comprise 50% of school populations where affirmative action is banned? Hint: it's not because of superior intelligence, but work ethic. [1]: https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-repetition https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-repetition