Reply to Are you a "Dream Hoarder"? I am, apparently

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From this interview with the author http://www.elle.com/culture/books/a46121/dream-hoarders-feature/

[b]"I can't emphasize this point strongly enough," he replies, "but I don't think we should treat our own children as social-policy interventions.[/b] And poor parents, by the way, if you go to them and say, 'I'm not [paying for tutoring] because I'm egalitarian,' they'd say, 'What the hell is wrong with you?'" He does offer some suggestions to address the imbalance: Match the amount spent on enrichment experiences for your child to assist a needier child; find a family to "adopt," and invest in their children's educations; or follow the lead of the affluent public school that his kids attend—for every dollar the PTA raises, the group gives 50 cents to a low-income DC school.
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He is talking out both sides of his mouth. If he is establishing the cause-effect that demonstrates the active suppression of one class by another, the only solution is to combat that suppression. If he further argues that the suppression is systemic, then the combating action must also be systemic - a macro program to "make things right". It's disingenuous to argue for the existence of systemic suppression of one class by another, and then leave it by saying "but lets depend on individual action". Individual action is how we are here in the first place.[/quote]
Very well said. PP. Agree completely.[/quote]
I'm late to this thread, but I've been wanting to drop in and post something similar to what PP said (much better than I would have).

I found the "game" in the OP's link silly, because it doesn't distinguish between not actively shutting out poor people through opposing a housing project and introducing your kid to a friend of yours who has a job. It's obvious the cost-benefit of the former. Maybe your kid will have a somewhat degraded school experience (maybe not, and maybe they'll meet some really cool new people) vs. maybe your rich kid won't get a job and some other rich kid whose parents are well-connected will.

I thought it would be more subtle and point out some of the less obvious ways in which privilege benefits people without just dismissing them as selfish out-of-hand. It is obvious how keeping poorer kids out of good schools hurts them. It's less obvious how using connections to get your kid a job interview does...and I think he oversimplifies by suggesting that using a connection is somehow holding down poor people instead of just being another person caught up in the winning side of an unfair system.[/quote]

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