By which I mean, I don't think it's about level, but exposure. We have a natural tendency to assume that others are like us until proved otherwise...
Right. It's not just that that people who grew up financially better off don't know what it's like to grow up in more straitened circumstances, people who grew up in poverty have no idea what it was like to grow up with more.
The difference is that the poor are not in a position to do harm to the less poor by establishing let-them-eat-cake public policy.
The similarlity is that this, too, can have tragic consequences for those with less. We live in a competitive society, and it's bad enough not to have money for resources for competing, but it's worse to not even know what resources you're missing. If you knew, at least you have a chance of gleaning them or fighting for them. But if, for instance, you never heard of "test prep", you won't seek free or subsidized test prep for your smart, promising kid -- but your kid will be competing for college admission against kids who had it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-04-02 03:29 pm (UTC)Right. It's not just that that people who grew up financially better off don't know what it's like to grow up in more straitened circumstances, people who grew up in poverty have no idea what it was like to grow up with more.
The difference is that the poor are not in a position to do harm to the less poor by establishing let-them-eat-cake public policy.
The similarlity is that this, too, can have tragic consequences for those with less. We live in a competitive society, and it's bad enough not to have money for resources for competing, but it's worse to not even know what resources you're missing. If you knew, at least you have a chance of gleaning them or fighting for them. But if, for instance, you never heard of "test prep", you won't seek free or subsidized test prep for your smart, promising kid -- but your kid will be competing for college admission against kids who had it.