<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/nyregion/08scholars.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/nyregion/08scholars.html</a> </p>
<p>This is really inspiring.</p>
<p>Yes, inspiring and humbling. I particularly admire the comment by the young woman who said that she found a space inside herself that couldn’t be touched by outside factors…she is wise beyond her years.</p>
<p>It was inspiring, tokenadult, thank you for the link.</p>
<p>For those who were profiled in this story, academic success was enhanced by personal habits that were developed just in order to survive, or to avoid being totally consumed by their circumstances: dedication to the task, focus, catching the eye of adults who could aid in some way, goal-oriented behavior, etc. I find it ironic that their futures are brighter than the futures of many who grow up with all the advantages, but waste them, because so much is just handed to them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Yes, sometimes students can learn a lot from the limitations in their environment. And students from more privileged environments can learn a lot by thinking about what they would do if they didn’t have all the privileges their parents kindly share with them.</p>
<p>I could not help think of the daughter in the thread started by hmom5, who was upset when her dad did not increase her allowance of $500 after she blew through it before the month was up. Wei Huang, in the article, earns $560 per month working in a florist shop, spends $550 on rent and has the princely sum of $10 for everything else. And yet, she is happy, even though her parents went back to China, and is pulling a 93 GPA, two years after coming to this country. What a contrast!</p>