<p>"Privileged" around here means something else I guess. When I was growing up in what I consider a very underprivileged setting, I had the privilege of having a mother that worked for peanuts at our local library. During summer months, since we did not have the privilege of air conditioning at our home, I spent many hours at the library---enjoying books and free air conditioning. I introduced myself to many great authors that I encourage my children to read today. When I did marry, my husbands mother also happened to work at a library during her lifetime. So you can guess what my children received as gifts from both grandparents--------wonderful books! My D considers a signed book by Richard Nixon to be one of her most prized possessions. I feel that my kids are very privileged and articulate (like xoxo's wealthy parents) but we are not financially privileged by most folks standards. And my D did quite well on her SAT and ACT. Unquestionably, money creates wonderful advantage for many students, but for those students without financial privilege, I hope that they make use of what is available for free-----books.</p>
<p>What everyone here has to realize is that yes, wealthy kids from the upper middle and upper classes do have more opportunities to get help with their studies as opposed to the lower and lower middle classes. filmxoxo17, i completely agree with you. Having so much available that caters to your education can never be beaten by one free tutor. Then again, there are always those who distinguish themselves to go beyond their income.
Remember those that work to support their families while their richer counterparts are studying for the SATs. remember that.</p>
<p>You just countered with another extreme case. This is very rare, unless your living in a poor underdeveloped country.</p>
<p>Did you live in poor areas? Then how do you knows this case is extremely rare? Got sources? I lived in plenty of poor areas in the US, including ones populated by Mexican immigrants. I know poverty. Do you?</p>
<p>*Here in the US, there are so many oppertunities for jobs. If I can walk into 5 random stores at the age of 17 and get offered 3 jobs, each paying above 9 dollars an hour, these parents should also be able to get a higher paying job, enough to support a family. Also, there is welfare for people who are struggling that bad that they just can't keep up. *</p>
<p>What the hell? Why are you mentioning the parents, again? This is about why rich kids have all the advantages, which you don't seem to accept, so now you talk about how the parents are at fault. This isn't about the parents, this about the kids.</p>
<p>*Are you implying that you also have an advantage over low income kids? Cause you have the internet!!!!!! OMGZORS. The library has free internet..The library has free books. *</p>
<p>Yes, I have an advantage. Why are you mentioning that, again? Oh, and so the library has free internet and free books? Congratulations, you've just proven another advantage rich kids have: they don't have to go to the library! If you haven't noticed, this topic is about how rich kids have ADVANTAGES, not how poor kids don't have resources. </p>
<p>Look, its not MY fault that they are poor, so what are you trying to get me to do, pity them? As long as someone puts forth the effort in school, they will learn. You don't have to have genius teacher to learn, you can do a lot of that on your own. Its called motivation.</p>
<p>No, I just mentioned my opinion, and you say I spout off BS. I didn't try to get you to do anything. And your statements are going in the opposite direction of the topic. Once again, this isn't about low-income kids having no resources, this about high-income kids having an advantage. Please think about the difference and come back to me. Never mind that you seem to think that motivation is a purely personal quality, separated from the environment. Many of the low-income Mexican families I've met seemed to stress hard work much more than getting an education. You think you'll get motivated in school after being raised in that family? Hell, even if you have a good family raising you, go to an environment where all your peers slack off and the teachers make virtually no effort to fix that. Try to get motivated in school in that environment. Even more importantly, you have hope. Your life has been a beaming tower of optimism. You biggest disappointment is that your house is $100,000 less than you want it to be, or that your laptop has 512 RAM instead of 1 GB, maybe breaking up with a girlfriend, and things of that caliber. You know you can get into the ivy league because your life has reinforced good things to happen. Now, switch to a life where you worry about about having a place to live instead of a laptop, where life has given you nothing to feel good about. Still feel you can easily get motivated then?
Please don't act like getting educated is a piece of cake for everybody until you understand how the other half lives. In fact, you seem to be in denial that you have a huge advantage over low-income kids, to the point that you think that a slight preference in colleges for low-income kids actually evens it out (never mind that the vast majority of universities in this country are NOT need-blind). I don't know what fantasy world you live in, but it's not the world I know.</p>
<h2>i totally agree with Ray192.</h2>
<p>"Also, the kids coming from low income familes can get into some schools easier because of their families income. So it does balance out, if there was a huge advantage between rich vs poor."</p>
<p>what about life in college? most poor students still have to work in college to help pay for their tuition, books, etc. while rich kids can just party.</p>
<p>I guess I'm somewhere in between the two extremes that have been discussed. I haven't had to work at a job to live (although I must say there have been a number of close calls, so to speak), and the schools around home are fairly good, but even though both my parents went to college and one of them graduated, there was no emphasis around home on going to college for most of my life, mostly because we thought that it would be completely unaffordable. I only started thinking about going to college in the middle of tenth grade; luckily, one of my teachers encouraged me and pushed me towards that goal (and informed me about the resouurces available for paying for college), so even though I can't match the stats & ECs of many CCers I see, I now have a fair number of accomplishments to write on my application and I'm almost certain that I'll be going to college.</p>
<p>The wealthier you are, the more advantages you have. I think this but not as big of an advantage as Ray is making it sound. I am from a low-income (19K a year) family where my mom takes my money to pay the bills and i dont think that it is that big a deal. The SATs are harder cause I have absolutly no time to study for them and I cant afford a tutor. Also working is hard because I try to save every penny that I get to go towards college cause my parents cant afford to help me out and this is also difficult to do. Since I have to babysit my little sister after school and my mom doesnt get home till around 2 hours after school, my extracurriculars are limited. I am lucky to live in a wealthy neighbor hood and go to a great school even though i am poor, so i cant commment on in school problems with being poor. There are usually more stress' as well, for me our house elecricity is always close to gettting shut off and I am pretty sure that my dad is goin to stop paying for some of the house bills once the divorce is final and that may make me have to move to a cheaper town(i am keeping my fingers crossed that I dont have to:)) All of these things are problems that wealthy kids normally dont have to deal with which makes it easier for them but, as I have stated above, they may have advantages but as long as your motivation is high then the advantages arent as high as ray is making it out to be.</p>