Reply to Serious question: Why are people afraid to admit privilege?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is also privilege in being unprivileged.  We should acknowledge that as well.

Neither of my parents went to college.  One parent only has an 8th grade education.  I was embarrassed by this fact until my high school guidance counselor showed me how it would be a good thing and work to my advantage.  She told me that colleges loved someone like me who'd persevered through all the challenges and still managed to be a 4.0 student.  I didn't really trust her 100% until I took the PSATs.  I scored a 1540 and colleges started bombarding me with calls and invites to tour their campuses.  I got a 1570 on my SATs and the recruiting intensified.  With the help of my guidance counselor, I was able to visit most schools for free by utilizing their financial aid departments.  There's no way my parents could afford trips like that for me to take tours.

The fact that I had under-educated, blue collar parents worked to my advantage and helped me get into an Ivy.  Yes, I had excellent grades and test scores, but without the guidance and knowledge of my counselor, I would have ignored all of those offers for tours and never have applied to any Ivy league schools.  Before that I was 100% planning on attending George Mason so I could live at home and save money that way.  That's still privilege, IMO.

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Same here. I would assume that you, like me, experienced a fairly sh$tty childhood with food scarcity, no heat at times, etc., so I don't feel my scholarship was undeserved. However, it was a little weird to graduate with no debt while my wealthy classmates were saddled with many thousands to pay.

But that's how they achieve their goals of diversity, and I was glad to participate. I'm now a woman in a hugely male-dominated field, and yes, I've gotten every job I've applied for. I'm 100% qualified, and I assume at least one male applicant was, too. But diversity's working in my favor because of what I guess you would call female privilege.[/quote]

I mean, cool story for you. But you do know that your children will not benefit from such privilege, right?

Also, if you are caucasian, that "female diversity" will only carry you so far. You will win the job over a white male, but if you're up against a female, lesbian woman of color, you will lose the job every time.[/quote]

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