An interesting question

[JuniperWoolf]

Well everyone can discuss any subject in detail with Google at their disposal; whether they actually know what it means is another matter.

I know that it's been a while since you were in school, but we actually don't get to use google during biology exams.

I was talking about university the other week. What % of the poor kids actually go?

Almost all of us are in the same boat, like Alex said, eating pasta and working at sh*tty jobs is so common that it's become a cliche. It takes most students in Alberta at least five years to complete a bachelor's, because we have to work too much and don't have time to take a full course schedule. The tuition just keeps rising, and not many people have been able to gather much money (especially those who attend right after graduating highschool). Student loans exist and there are always private companies willing to dish out some PR cash, and that helps but it only covers about 1/3 - 1/2 of the cost and not all of us qualify.

I see a sweeping generalisation about "the masses" from from someone who has the priviledge of having the best educational opportunities, and I feel I have to respond. I don't begrudge anyone what they or their parents have earned. Good luck to them, and all the best. It's the setting up of one group against another - worth against worthless - that really annoys me.

Yeah I know, that's the guttural reaction against the whole image of the rich, snobby, educated "elite." I used to think the same way, until I realized that the snobby educated "elite" monopolizing human advancement doesn't exist anymore. The smartest people I know are poor, they live in dumps with five or six roomates. We all wish we had money, it would mean that we wouldn't have to work like dogs to get somewhere, but if you want an education you have to have a work ethic to study no matter how much your parents give you. In my experience, rich kids who have everything handed to them don't work hard in school. They don't have a work ethic. Also, unlike the past, poor kids are actually able to attend school because the government and private companies help by giving them bursaries, grants and scholarships. They also make a lot more because of standard wage laws. All of this means that now, in today's world, the rich students are more likely to have low grades and the poor kids are more likely to have high grades (haha actually, in my experience rich kids are more likely to pay poor kids to do their homework and then subsequently fail their midterms and finals).

There are still barriers though for many, and these relate to money, ambition and example of the parents, and all those other things that don't necessarily come easily to those of us who have had to work hard to get where we are. The barriers are still there - we get people through our door who are feeling the effects of poverty, lack of opportunity etc decades after.

That's true. I strongly believe that for most of us, as long as there are people in the world who care about us, the challenges help us grow and make us stronger, but I had people at school who's parents were complete garbage. They used to send their kids to school dirty and messed up. Those kids really didn't stand much of a chance. They didn't make up the majority though, most of us had normal parents who weren't addicted to anything, worked hard, didn't beat us and made sure we were clean, even though they didn't have very much money (especially during the 90's when the mine shut down).

[Emil Miller]

Today the economic elites are cooperating with the common man and this socialism is unstoppable. Of course, it's not communism, which we demonstrated was completely stoppable.

I'm sorry but this is not the case. The economic elites are actually using the common man in ways that were undreamed of before the advent of modern information technology.


[QUOTE=JuniperWoolf;1107918]I know that it's been a while since you were in school, but we actually don't get to use google during biology exams.
QUOTE]

I think it's fairly obvious that I was referring to its use on the internet.

[JuniperWoolf]

I think it's fairly obvious that I was referring to its use on the internet.

I think it's fairly obvious that I was originally referring to school. Where else would one care about angiosperms?

[Emil Miller]

I think it's fairly obvious that I was originally referring to school. Where else would one care about angiosperms?

In horticulture, which is where I first came across the term years before the Internet was invented.

[Paulclem]

Yeah I know, that's the guttural reaction against the whole image of the rich, snobby, educated "elite." I used to think the same way, until I realized that the snobby educated "elite" monopolizing human advancement doesn't exist anymore. The smartest people I know are poor, they live in dumps with five or six roomates. We all wish we had money, it would mean that we wouldn't have to work like dogs to get somewhere, but if you want an education you have to have a work ethic to study no matter how much your parents give you. In my experience, rich kids who have everything handed to them don't work hard in school. They don't have a work ethic. Also, unlike the past, poor kids are actually able to attend school because the government and private companies help by giving them bursaries, grants and scholarships. They also make a lot more because of standard wage laws. All of this means that now, in today's world, the rich students are more likely to have low grades and the poor kids are more likely to have high grades (haha actually, in my experience rich kids are more likely to pay poor kids to do their homework and then subsequently fail their midterms and finals).

I wish it were a level playing field here, but we have an obviously rich elite. I suppose every country is different. Still, you can go further than you used to.

I still see a lot of young people who would like to do better, but they're already pretty far behind in their twenties. They can still achieve of course, but it takes a long time and life happens - family children and responsibilities. Then the cycle starts again. I'm sure we lose a lot of talent one way and another.

[JuniperWoolf]

They can still achieve of course, but it takes a long time and life happens - family children and responsibilities. Then the cycle starts again. I'm sure we lose a lot of talent one way and another.

Hah! That is completely true, I'm spending my twenties guarding against pregnancy like it's the plague. I've lost a lot of very bright friends to pre-mature "accidents."