I'd say hes giving a lesser example. Private tutors, the ability to acquire any scientific equipment you want, not having to worry about what your next meal is, not having to get a job at 14 to make ends meet in the family hurting your studies, private schools that do career tracks from 8 with career tracks per student rather than factory public school education, and like I said, more importantly than anything, the connections you get by being in the rich kids club from birth.
You get a stacked hand economically, culturally, and socially. We often focus on the economic part, but I think it is the other two that contribute way more to the status quo being limited upward movement from poorer classes to the wealthy / elite / prosperous.
Still sticking to STEM, here are my thoughts on each of your points:
Private tutors
Not sure about these, don't know much about them.
the ability to acquire any scientific equipment you want
If you're studying math/CS, how much of these do you need? Maybe for Physics or Chemistry, but even then?...
When I was a kid, my parents bought me a cheapo Electronics kit and I learned a lot about circuits from that and a couple of books.
not having to worry about what your next meal is, not having to get a job at 14 to make ends meet in the family hurting your studies
I don't know that many Romanian kids with that problem, so I expect it's even less common in the western world (disclaimer: I currently live in the US).
However, I do see a lot of kids skipping school, acting cool and picking on nerds (and this is a global problem IMHO, not limited to the US or Eastern Europe). That's not poverty, that's just bad attitude.
private schools that do career tracks from 8 with career tracks per student rather than factory public school education
Not sure about these either, never had contact with private schools.
more importantly than anything, the connections you get by being in the rich kids club from birth
I think these matter a lot more in the legal and financial worlds. In tech, with all the startup money being thrown around, it's not that hard to get funding for an idea.
You get a stacked hand economically, culturally, and socially. We often focus on the economic part, but I think it is the other two that contribute way more to the status quo being limited upward movement from poorer classes to the wealthy / elite / prosperous.
I personally know a few people from poor families who became tech millionaires in a decade or less, by starting their own company or working pre-IPO at a startup. While these are only anecdotes, they show it's not impossible to become rich. You do have to pick a high-growth field.
I think there's still a lot of mobility in fields where personal contribution and talent still matter, like technology, science and art (for example, you can still be poor and later become a millionaire, see Justin Bieber and Psy for recent examples). It's much harder to do this in finance, law and politics; but then again, hasn't it always been so?
Comments
I'd say hes giving a lesser example. Private tutors, the ability to acquire any scientific equipment you want, not having to worry about what your next meal is, not having to get a job at 14 to make ends meet in the family hurting your studies, private schools that do career tracks from 8 with career tracks per student rather than factory public school education, and like I said, more importantly than anything, the connections you get by being in the rich kids club from birth.
You get a stacked hand economically, culturally, and socially. We often focus on the economic part, but I think it is the other two that contribute way more to the status quo being limited upward movement from poorer classes to the wealthy / elite / prosperous.
Still sticking to STEM, here are my thoughts on each of your points:
Not sure about these, don't know much about them.
If you're studying math/CS, how much of these do you need? Maybe for Physics or Chemistry, but even then?... When I was a kid, my parents bought me a cheapo Electronics kit and I learned a lot about circuits from that and a couple of books.
I don't know that many Romanian kids with that problem, so I expect it's even less common in the western world (disclaimer: I currently live in the US). However, I do see a lot of kids skipping school, acting cool and picking on nerds (and this is a global problem IMHO, not limited to the US or Eastern Europe). That's not poverty, that's just bad attitude.
Not sure about these either, never had contact with private schools.
I think these matter a lot more in the legal and financial worlds. In tech, with all the startup money being thrown around, it's not that hard to get funding for an idea.
I personally know a few people from poor families who became tech millionaires in a decade or less, by starting their own company or working pre-IPO at a startup. While these are only anecdotes, they show it's not impossible to become rich. You do have to pick a high-growth field.
I think there's still a lot of mobility in fields where personal contribution and talent still matter, like technology, science and art (for example, you can still be poor and later become a millionaire, see Justin Bieber and Psy for recent examples). It's much harder to do this in finance, law and politics; but then again, hasn't it always been so?