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Slightly misleading title. it should be: "How one girl had a great mentor and worked her ass off to get into college" Silicon valley didn't do shit, Felicia

Slightly misleading title. it should be: "How one girl had a great mentor and worked her ass off to get into college" Silicon valley didn't do shit, Felicia Curcuru should get a Big Sister credit and Ashana Davenport should get credit for taking advantage of a good opportunity. If silicon valley really cared, they would open up offices in places like philly or detroit...

calibraxis 13y ago
Banally evil article. "Davenport started working when she was 14 years old. For years she juggled school and clocked 40 hours a week at Taco Bell, where she earned the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. 'Working less was never an option,' she said." Ok, US's institutional child labor. If this were an official enemy country, that'd be the angle. If it had the wrong economic ideology, the media would wring its hands about the disgusting culture where many are called "poor"—mysteriously allocated less food and warmth—in contrast to those with more gourmet food than they could ever swallow. And that country hates females descended from Africa, for some mindboggling reason. Maybe the Google section would be about how its innovative search algorithm came from government subsidy in a socialize-risk-privatize-profit scheme [1], and how Google avoids taxes and splurges on luxuries while children must work. [2] Google's anti-meritocracy depends on expensive credentialist barriers: "'But Google won’t take you unless you have a degree. What degree you get affects your salary.'" This quote would be a howler: "'Ashana is an example where resilience and persistence will pay off in the long run despite coming from a situation where the odds were against her.'" That's the thing about "odds": sometimes a person wins the lottery. (And Ashana didn't win any lottery. She won student debt and some college time.) [1] http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100660 http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100660 [2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2013/08/01/apple-google-among-top-u-s-companies-parking-cash-offshore-to-reduce-taxes-study-says/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2013/08/01/apple...

calibraxis 13y ago

Banally evil article. "Davenport started working when she was 14 years old. For years she juggled school and clocked 40 hours a week at Taco Bell, where she earned the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. 'Working less was never an option,' she said." Ok, US's institutional child labor. If this were an official enemy country, that'd be the angle. If it had the wrong economic ideology, the media would wring its hands about the disgusting culture where many are called "poor"—mysteriously allocated less food and warmth—in contrast to those with more gourmet food than they could ever swallow. And that country hates females descended from Africa, for some mindboggling reason. Maybe the Google section would be about how its innovative search algorithm came from government subsidy in a socialize-risk-privatize-profit scheme [1], and how Google avoids taxes and splurges on luxuries while children must work. [2] Google's anti-meritocracy depends on expensive credentialist barriers: "'But Google won’t take you unless you have a degree. What degree you get affects your salary.'" This quote would be a howler: "'Ashana is an example where resilience and persistence will pay off in the long run despite coming from a situation where the odds were against her.'" That's the thing about "odds": sometimes a person wins the lottery. (And Ashana didn't win any lottery. She won student debt and some college time.) [1] http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100660 http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100660 [2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2013/08/01/apple-google-among-top-u-s-companies-parking-cash-offshore-to-reduce-taxes-study-says/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2013/08/01/apple...