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Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

theatlantic.com

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Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#81

Post by wavefunction »

whiddershins wrote: post #75

Hidden in this article is the assumption that the 25 year old working at chick-fil-a is beyond saving, so we must try to do better with future generations. That's really sad for me. That guy is still a kid, from where I sit. And he will likely be doing work that bores him to tears for the next 50 years. We should be talking about fixing that. Figuring out a way to send some smart, creative, in poverty, 30 year olds t…

"Beyond saving"? What if he is doing a good job of providing for his family or he's a musician on the side or he just likes doing what he is doing?

I think the first step down the road you describe in your last sentence would be that we (as individuals) shouldn't assess our personal goals and assume they are universal or shared with other individuals. This was a tough lesson for me to learn when I was younger, that imperfect systems are sometimes more acceptable or most appropriate when compared to some sort of perfected ideal.

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#82

Post by wavefunction »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #24
empath75 wrote: post #12

There are a whole lot of tech jobs where learning on the job without a degree is completely viable. Seems like grabbing these kids out of high school is a business opportunity. I'm pretty sure that any random kid that's into anime and collecting cards can learn to do tech support.

Zoho does this. http://www.livemint.com/Companies/LU4qIlz47C5Uph2P5i250K/Cha... I studied in a Chennai corporation school...When I was in 12th class, Zoho representatives came to our school and told us to take an exam. I was...among those six that got selected,” recalls Babu, who has been with the company for years. As product manager, Babu now leads a team of about 60 engineers. But it's a bit different over here. U…

People in the US can be poor due to bad luck or chance. One serious illness can bankrupt even an upper middle-class family.

The difference that my Indian colleagues have mentioned to me between India and the US is that people get second (and third, and fourth, etc.) chances. Your fortunes may wane but it isn't necessarily permanent.

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#83

Post by [deleted] »

memonkey wrote: post #50
ghufran_syed wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should definitely consider the University of London International programme [1]. It's a distance learning course thats totally compatible with working at the same time, costs less than $8000 for the 3-year degree, and UK degrees are usually counted as equivalent to US degrees with regards to employment or further study. I'm just completing my first year of the course now. I've studied at some pretty good schools,…

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing. I had no idea something like this existed. As someone who has done online learning in the past (Academy of Art University, Udacity, Coursera), this seems like something right up my alley. $8000/year is extremely reasonable. Some quick questions: Are there any extra fees? How many classes in first/second/third year? Are they separated by semester or quarter? Does this include Genera…

[deleted]

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#85

Post by kelukelugames »

ap22213 wrote: post #69
kelukelugames wrote: post #2

dang, five dollar bet this gets to 100 points. :) This in response to an earlier exchange about how race and gender related posts get many votes in the beginning and are then flagged to death, but ones about class always make it to the top. Is there a way to see how many times an article has been flagged? I would like to gather data for my assertions.

While I can relate to you in regard to the decreasing number of tech relevant articles (I wish there were more of them), I actually enjoy reading articles about class and the comments that follow.

I post some of the class articles. They are much more acceptable than gender and race for discussion by a primarily white and male crowd.

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#86

Post by yummyfajitas »

wavefunction wrote: post #82
yummyfajitas wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoho does this. http://www.livemint.com/Companies/LU4qIlz47C5Uph2P5i250K/Cha... I studied in a Chennai corporation school...When I was in 12th class, Zoho representatives came to our school and told us to take an exam. I was...among those six that got selected,” recalls Babu, who has been with the company for years. As product manager, Babu now leads a team of about 60 engineers. But it's a bit different over here. U…

People in the US can be poor due to bad luck or chance. One serious illness can bankrupt even an upper middle-class family. The difference that my Indian colleagues have mentioned to me between India and the US is that people get second (and third, and fourth, etc.) chances. Your fortunes may wane but it isn't necessarily permanent.

Bankruptcy has nothing to do with poverty. Poverty is income below a certain threshold, bankruptcy is a legal status that wipes away debts. In any case you seem to be arguing against a claim that no one in the US is poor due to bad luck, which isn't a claim I made.

Consider "Bob" from this article. In the US Bob got lazy in high school and is now a barista. Over here Babu could easily get stuck in rural poverty even if he doesn't get lazy.

Unlucky Babu, not lazy Bob, is the person you want to recruit.

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#87

Post by nostrebored »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #57
spo81rty wrote: post #17

I was born in a trailer park in Oklahoma. Lived in a 1 bedroom shack, and then lived with my grandparents until high school after my parents got divorced. I grew up very poor. But I loved computers, thanks to my dad having a Commodore 64. I excelled at math, loved computers, and went to DeVry to do computer programming. I was the first in my family to go to college. Started my first tech company at 22. With a lot of…

You had interests that lead you to financial security and an ability to pursue said interests - that's just plain dumb luck. I'm not saying that you did not work hard, I'm sure you did. I am saying that plenty of people work just as hard but stay in poverty.

When you're poor and want to get out you choose interests that make you more wealthy. You choose majors in college that make you more money with better financial security. The starving artist routine is nearly entirely played out by middle to upper middle class people.

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#88

Post by superuser2 »

galfarragem wrote: post #10
rdtsc wrote: post #5

I grew up poor. Not Africa poor, but ex Soviet Union falling apart poor. One thing that made a huge difference was parents who sacrificed their career to make sure they were home with me after school. They encouraged education. Mom never finished more than 7 grades of school, but she saved money for and for the 8th of March, equivalent to mothers day (oh the irony) got me cheapest ZX Spectrum clone we could find. It…

To raise kids, money beyond a low threshold is not relevant, providing a good education is. Money, or better, social capital gets importance when these kids become young adults and have chosen career paths with less demand.

>money beyond a low threshold is not relevant, providing a good education is.

Except that a good education is usually gated behind 1) high property values and property taxes in a suburban neighborhood, 2) high tuition, or 3) extremely competitive tests/lotteries to get into the small handful of good schools in failing urban districts.

Not everyone has a parent who can afford to be away from work long enough to be an effective substitute for a good school district.

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#89

Post by [deleted] »

ap22213 wrote: post #79
coldtea wrote: post #3

Statistics and chances. Some poor kids are bound to thrive eventually -- and chances make sure those kids have some things that other poor kids don't (a mentor in their life, a parent who isn't working 2 jobs or drinking but can spend some time with them, live in a good school district, their curiousness wasn't beaten out of them by bad early experiences, looks enabling them to be taken for better than other poor kid…

Yep, luck. I'm the child of a single mom of 4 who made $7000 / year, and I'm the first of my extended family to graduate college and the first millionaire (my younger brother got to middle class). Luck is the way that I succeeded. 1st, being born with a high IQ helped. But, that clearly wasn't enough since I had the lowest IQ of my family. And, 40% of my gifted class didn't even graduate high school. 2nd, being born…

[deleted]

Re: Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?

#90

Post by whiskers »

asimuvPR wrote: post #56
rdtsc wrote: post #5

I grew up poor. Not Africa poor, but ex Soviet Union falling apart poor. One thing that made a huge difference was parents who sacrificed their career to make sure they were home with me after school. They encouraged education. Mom never finished more than 7 grades of school, but she saved money for and for the 8th of March, equivalent to mothers day (oh the irony) got me cheapest ZX Spectrum clone we could find. It…

I don't really like to talk about it to avoid looking like a showoff, but I run a project to help those who want to learn computers and programming. Currently am preparing some space that was made available and getting some funds for raspberry pis. I share a similar story like you (poor, parents got me a c64 somehow) and want to pay it forward. If anybody is interested in learning more or provide feedback about how I…

I'd be happy to help you out here - I run a Pi based business and we could donate some equipment. My e-mail is in my profile.
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