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Most parents like mine, who had never gone to college, were either intimidated or oblivious (and sometimes outright hostile) to the intricacies of col
by llplp 14y ago
Most parents like mine, who had never gone to college,
were either intimidated or oblivious (and sometimes
outright hostile) to the intricacies of college
admissions and financial aid. I had no idea what I was
doing when I applied. Once, I’d heard a volleyball
coach mention paying off her student loans, and this
led me to assume that college was like a restaurant —
you paid when you were done. When I realized I needed
my mom’s and my stepfather’s income information and
tax documents, they refused to give them to me. They
were, I think, ashamed.
Almost painful to read that. Hit close to home a little too much. Sometimes I wonder whether it's simply willful ignorance by the upper class to ignore the realities of the poor class.
- Evbn 14y agoCome on. At some point you have to expect some level of familial responsibility. You can't on the one hand blame rich people from enjoying handouts (grandpa's money) and on the other hand blame rich people because poor people refuse handouts. You can't fix stupid.
- uchi 14y agoIt's really sort of an interesting debacle. There's opportunities out there for both privileged and underprivileged families but often times the underprivileged are left completely oblivious while the privileged take full advantage. When you're rich, you're not just monetarily wealthy. You gain a lot of social and cultural capital that helps you maintain your wealth and assets, and that's something that frankly many poor people just don't get the opportunity to learn about. Believe it or not, most wealthy people who have been wealthy for a while are very good at knowing what helps them remain wealthy. In contrast, many underprivileged families don't know much about saving money at all. There's a great book that goes into a lot of detail about this. It's called the Meritocracy Myth. http://www.amazon.com/Meritocracy-Myth-Stephen-J-McNamee/dp/0742561682 http://www.amazon.com/Meritocracy-Myth-Stephen-J-McNamee/dp/...
- mikeash 14y agoDon't confuse stupidity and ignorance. This is an example of the latter. There are a ton of built-in cultural assumptions to the college admissions process, and the culture in question is college. Expecting people with no college experience to know about it without educating them is no more sensible than expecting them to know calculus when nobody taught it to them. Sounds like a "how this stuff works" seminar or class could have been really valuable. I know I could have benefitted greatly when I was nearing my high school graduation, at least if I could have actually been convinced to pay attention and care.