You do realize that the entire global financial system is currently completely off it's rocker, right?
Ah...the question of the hour, JonLaw...
Don't expect many, even here, to realize the lateness of said hour.
{shudders}
My DH is a person who doesn't really understand the concept that Dude illustrates above. It
is inherently unfair to the next generation when THIS generation exerts influence in jockeying for starting positions on the way to that finish line.
Because it is human nature to give our offspring any advantage that we can leverage, however, there isn't really a way to level the starting line. Not really. Any attempt just results in a loophole that the already-advantaged seem to find a way to take increasingly revolting advantage of. I'm certainly AWARE of the advantages that we are providing to our DD, and I have no intention of halting those efforts just so that she is in the same poor starting position as others.
But I do feel badly for those kids, and I worry that we're throwing away a lot of raw talent that way.
My DD, at 13, is already
profoundly aware that she is starting at a very different place than many of her peers. It disquiets her-- because she
knows that it begs the question of how much of her achievement is due to opportunities that she's been GIVEN (as opposed to "earned") and how much is merit which belongs to HER... and whether or not there is even a way to tease those things apart on some level.
DH, on the other hand,
still bristles at the notion that his "starting line" was vastly different than-- well, than mine, even. His parents actually told him "anywhere you get in and want to go-- we'll pay. No worries." They took him to visit multiple colleges, paid for test prep, etc.
Sheesh-- I can't.even.imagine. I was so far from that place that I can't even put myself there. Rather than being worried about my next midterm, I was worried about my skanky roommate's probable substance abuse problems, and paying utilities by not ticking my boss off such that he'd stiff me for enough hours to earn the money.
So yeah, he had SIGNIFICANT advantages-- advantages that mattered. When he says, indignantly, "I've earned EVERYTHING I have. Nobody ever GAVE me anything," I think-- sure they did. They gave you a full set of
tools to make it so, and they showed you how to USE each one of those tools properly.
Disadvantaged kids are picking them up at thrift stores and yard sales, and figuring out everything the hard way. It's only obvious how calipers or a socket wrench work once you've seen someone else use them.
Which one of those people is going to be the more "successful" mechanic? Which of them has "earned" it more? Which one of them is more "talented?" Hard questions that relate to what meritocracy even means in light of human nature.
