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I appreciate your anecdotes, and I'll respond with one of my own. I went to college with two people. (More, maybe!) Not people I knew that well, but it was a v

by Cushman 13y ago

I appreciate your anecdotes, and I'll respond with one of my own. I went to college with two people. (More, maybe!) Not people I knew that well, but it was a very small school. They were both written up ("infracted") for marijuana use-- I forget if as part of the same incident or just very close in time. One of these people was a girl from a wealthy family that paid cash in full; the other was a boy from some impoverished corner of the country who had earned a full-ride-plus scholarship. You know how this ends. Now, marijuana use is not a crime in Massachusetts, so the institutional punishment was as draconian as it was mild. They had both used up their one warning on previous, unrelated infractions, so they both got the same deal: A hundred-dollar fine, a letter to the parents, and social probation. Well, that's what the wealthy one got. The poor kid also had to deal with the fact that his scholarship had a clause indicating that being placed on probation, being cited for drug use, or some combination of the two (I don't recall preicsely) made him ineligible. Yes, it was a very expensive school-- It was a very good school, and he had worked hard to prove he deserved to be there despite not being able to pay for it. But it wouldn't really have made a difference if it had been half or a quarter as much. And for all that we who could afford to be in debt were wealthy on paper, it gave us no ability to help him. In fact we were all servants of the same patron; he was just a little closer to going home. So the slap on the wrist was de facto expulsion. This kid couldn't even afford to go home for the holidays-- somebody had to drive him to the airport. Somebody had to pay for his ticket home. And when he got home... Well, to be honest, I don't know what happened. I haven't seen him on Facebook lately. When I think of first-world poverty, I think about the difference between these two people. If one of them is free, the other must be something else.

dools 13y ago
What you're referring to is more about social injustice as a result of a fiercely meritocratic, free market capitalist society. Yes, I think that healthcare and education should be free (I come from Australia where they both are, and my family was "poor" and I had access to a University education - there's a debt there but it's not as bad as what you guys call student loans). Incidentally I wonder how many of your college buddies would vote in favour of healthcare or education funding reform? (My guess is very very few but that's beside the point). This is a completely different problem from what the original article is discussing. The original article is talking about the fact that in areas where the poverty is so absolute, giving people things like access to schools or social programs has virtually no impact, but giving them access to a tractor and a herd of cows generates a huge economic benefit, and creates a position from which they can later do things like build schools and run their own social programs. In other words the people have skills, are willing to work and have a plan to make money and feed themselves predictably and reliably. Giving them cash makes sense. Now I agree that giving this guy free access to education and not having a double standard for students who pay versus those who don't (which has, incidentally, crept into the Australian system too since Howard fucked everything up) is a good idea. But giving him cash isn't. First world poverty can and should be solved institutionally, because it is an institutional problem.

by Cushman 13y ago

dools 13y ago

What you're referring to is more about social injustice as a result of a fiercely meritocratic, free market capitalist society. Yes, I think that healthcare and education should be free (I come from Australia where they both are, and my family was "poor" and I had access to a University education - there's a debt there but it's not as bad as what you guys call student loans). Incidentally I wonder how many of your college buddies would vote in favour of healthcare or education funding reform? (My guess is very very few but that's beside the point). This is a completely different problem from what the original article is discussing. The original article is talking about the fact that in areas where the poverty is so absolute, giving people things like access to schools or social programs has virtually no impact, but giving them access to a tractor and a herd of cows generates a huge economic benefit, and creates a position from which they can later do things like build schools and run their own social programs. In other words the people have skills, are willing to work and have a plan to make money and feed themselves predictably and reliably. Giving them cash makes sense. Now I agree that giving this guy free access to education and not having a double standard for students who pay versus those who don't (which has, incidentally, crept into the Australian system too since Howard fucked everything up) is a good idea. But giving him cash isn't. First world poverty can and should be solved institutionally, because it is an institutional problem.