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Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

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Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#11

Post by jorjordandan »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #2

"I couldn't mess up even once". Except he did. And yet it worked out. So clearly the headline is an exaggeration.

He got a second chance where most people in his position wouldn't. He got lucky - his point is that most people don't get a second chance. Also, I think more than the facts of the matter, he's talking about the feeling of not being able to mess up even once. Also the fact that he was haunted by that one mistake - not getting some trivial forms in on time could have ruined his life. Pretty harsh if you think about it.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#13

Post by ritchiea »

nostromo wrote: post #5

Edit: you can disregard this comment now as the article and title are updated to the (much better) originals. It's a good story, but the title is fairly misleading. It sounds like he did "mess up" a few times. But ultimately he persevered thanks to a tenacious teacher. It seems the real message is to keep pushing forward, even if you stumble. Clicking through to the original Medium article suggests that Vox is respon…

Headlines are usually picked by an editor not the author. In this case the author had even already published another version of the piece with a different headline "Lost Diamonds, How a financial aid form almost convinced me I wasn’t good enough and how our current system is failing underprivileged talent".

Can we discuss the content of the piece now?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#14

Post by lavrov »

nostromo wrote: post #5

Edit: you can disregard this comment now as the article and title are updated to the (much better) originals. It's a good story, but the title is fairly misleading. It sounds like he did "mess up" a few times. But ultimately he persevered thanks to a tenacious teacher. It seems the real message is to keep pushing forward, even if you stumble. Clicking through to the original Medium article suggests that Vox is respon…

I think that this depends on the definition of "messing up" - he missed a financial aid window in 6th grade, and something as trivial as filing a form late had a tangible impact on a year of his life. I think that his point is that this experience conditioned him to view risk quite differently from wealthier peers. I would disagree that "pushing forward" is a valid prescription - the counterfactual "without Mrs. Harris and Head-Royce" leaves him on a different trajectory.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#15

Post by ritchiea »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #2

"I couldn't mess up even once". Except he did. And yet it worked out. So clearly the headline is an exaggeration.

Headlines are usually picked by an editor not the author. In this case the author had even already published another version of the piece with a different headline "Lost Diamonds, How a financial aid form almost convinced me I wasn’t good enough and how our current system is failing underprivileged talent".

Can we discuss the content of the piece now?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#16

Post by tome »

dbshapco wrote: post #8
forrestthewoods wrote: post #2

"I couldn't mess up even once". Except he did. And yet it worked out. So clearly the headline is an exaggeration.

I think it is the feeling that you can't mess up that this references and which persists. My past was a single mother, deadbeat dad, welfare and food banks. Now I have a comfortable six-figure income and have been employed for over two decades. I still feel like I'm one bad break away from being on the streets.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying. Do you mean you feel like you're only one bad break away, emotionally, but rationally you know you're not? Or do you mean you still are actually one bad break away, for some reason?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#17

Post by ethbro »

trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

Family money also buys practice. As someone who grew up middle class surrounded by people above me on the social strata, the amount of activities wealthy kids get to train for life's challenges are mind boggling.

When anyone on HN sat down to their first big interview, ask yourself what practice you had with applicable social skills? (Business culture, dress, and social norms, etc.)

Now substitute someone who's never interacted with that world before, nor knows anyone from their neighborhood or social group who has.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#18

Post by M_Grey »

__jal wrote: post #4
forrestthewoods wrote: post #2

"I couldn't mess up even once". Except he did. And yet it worked out. So clearly the headline is an exaggeration.

Was the most notable part of the article to you the headline writer's word choice?

When there is nothing constructive to add, especially when an ideological nerve is struck, pedantry and semantics take over.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#19

Post by dleslie »

trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

And this is why Basic Income is the future; it doesn't help those with a bed of pillows to rely on, but it provides a bed of sod to those currently wary of spikes.
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