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0 pointsahomescu112y ago0 comments

> If everyone got reset, the elite culture would be the entrepreneurs and geniuses that can move the world, not the ones who rolled a good set of birth parents and got beyond-world-class education.

I'm always skeptical when I hear this education argument. In STEM at least, it doesn't seem that you can get a better education just by throwing money at it (ignoring the fact that a lot of rich kids don't actually major in STEM fields). You can still learn world-class Math/CS/Physics/Chemistry even if you don't go to MIT/Stanford. What exactly is this "beyond-world-class education" that rich kids get?

If you ask me, the major problem is that most people (from all social and economic classes) aren't interested or talented in activities that are productive at present (like STEM or Medicine), in addition to not being rich or connected. No amount of education can correct that, IMHO.

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nbouscal12y ago

You're missing a lot of auxiliary factors when you just look at college, let alone a specific college program. The educational advantage rich kids get starts at birth. A huge amount of it simply comes from having parents that make you do homework, etc. You say that you can learn world-class STEM without going to MIT/Stanford, but you're presuming a hell of a lot of prerequisites there that the majority of poor people do not have. You say that most people aren't interested or talented, but talent doesn't have a damn thing to do with it and the reason they aren't interested is because nobody has ever helped them get to the point where it's interesting. The popular perception of math, for example, is about as distant from actual mathematics as you can possibly get. That is not the kid's fault, it's the fault of the education system and society at large.

ahomescu1OP12y ago

> A huge amount of it simply comes from having parents that make you do homework, etc.

That's not something exclusive to rich people. I got a lot of encouragement as a kid from my parents to learn stuff and read books, without them being rich (grew up in Romania). Money isn't the big factor in your argument, quality parenting is (which I agree is important).

zanny12y ago

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.

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