Rant Alert.
Over the last couple of days I have been running around making sales calls. I put just over 900 miles on my car in less than 48 hours. It’s been a very productive but hectic week. Yesterday I had about 20 minutes in between appointments for lunch so I stopped in the only little restaurant I could find in a dinky town in NY. This town happened to house 3 pretty large tech companies, so this restaurant was occupied with several tables of middle aged men dressed in their business casual outfits. Seemed nice enough, but there was one guy in particular who was just annoying and loud. Even though I had no interest in eavesdropping, myself along with everyone else in the little restaurant had no choice but to listen to his every word. He started off by saying that his son didn’t get into his choice state school because he only had a 3.3 average. “But I’m so proud of him and I’ll tell you why.” His son called the community college near the state school he wanted to get into and found out it was part of the same consortium of schools. Since his girlfriend “who has a 4.0 average…just like my wife did” was going to this school, he was still going to move down there, go to community college and transfer his credits after a year and go to the school he wanted.
Then My Jaw Dropped
The guy proclaims: “I am thrilled he’s going to go to community college because it’s going to save me a ton of money in tuition…I mean a lot of money.” THEN he says, “You know, it’s a lot of money to send your kids to school and all the financial assistance these days goes to those kids who live in crack dens.” WHAAAAAAT?!?! In fact, it seemed so unreal that I wasn’t even sure he said it, then he went blathering on about his son and I kept thinking…did he really say that? I wasn’t watching him or the colleagues at his table when this all occurred, so I can’t tell you anyone’s reactions. Although I’m “one of them now”, I still felt like this was a bit of a personal attack on me. I contemplated walking up to him and telling him that I was one of those kids and I’m pretty sure my mom is not a crack whore. I refrained not only for my lack of time, but I really didn’t want to flatter him by letting him think I was hanging on his every word (not that I could help it, but still). Plus, this guy was the type who’d think I was hitting on him if I confronted him. I was so disgusted I just finished my salad and got the hell out of there.
I’m amazed at how many people still think that “all poor people are (lazy..on drugs…stupid…societal leeches, insert derogatory term, etc.)” There are a million bad and good reasons why people are poor and not everyone is poor for their entire lives. Also, making a low income doesn’t automatically mean you’re deficient in some way especially if you live below your means.
Why Need Based Scholarships Are Good
I am living proof that giving need based scholarship money to a smart and motivated poor kid will lead to an adult who contributes a lot back into the system. After 15 years in the workforce as an engineer, I can tell you I’ve paid back what I received in scholarship money many many times over in the form of tax revenue and charitable donations. I know I wouldn’t have the means to do that if I were still waitressing somewhere in my hometown. I’m also not sure if Mr. Annoying guy’s slackerboy son would have made better use of any scholarship money especially if his dad is already willing and able to foot the bill. Although my scholarships weren’t enough to pay for many of my expenses and I still had to work about 30 hours/week, they were my big enabler to get an eduction.
If someone is motivated enough to get good grades despite whatever troubling circumstances they were raised in you better believe they want a better life for themselves. I’d bet on any one of those kids succeeding 100 to 1 vs. some middle class kid who’s coasted through school getting mediocre grades. I really can’t think of too many examples of government spending that offer such a great return on investment.
End Rant
What do you think about this story?
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