Reply to I'm curious: is anyone on this forum actually poor?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Forget it, you don't see what I mean. [b]I don't think of people studying for PhD's as poor. Currently low income, sure. [/b]When I think poor I think begging on the street, sleeping in a shelter, etc. Semantics to some, I guess.

I know what you mean, PP.  I teach ESOL and most of my students and their families are poor - i.e. sharing a house with 2-3 families, not having a home phone, working at McDonald's.  Hard workers, yes, but mostly uneducated and it will be hard for them to ever be anything other than poor.  The PhD poster is probably "temporarily" poor - I assume that after she and her husband get their PhDs, they will make more money and will someday by a house or condo and will be able to go out to eat.  That said, i don't think any of my students are on DCUM.   :-o[/quote]

I get what you mean, as a former "poor" PhD student herself, and now a professor. You are talking about the difference between economic class and social class. The PhDs may have the same income as a blue-collar, hourly paid service employee and therefore, in a strict sense, in the same economic class; however, the PhD is by no means in the same social class. Also, as the PP pointed out, the PhD will not always be living on a $20K annual stipend. The time in graduate school is "optional" poverty, she presumably has the educational level and skills to hold a job that will pay more that the graduate fellowship, but chooses to pursue the PhD for other reasons.[/quote]

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