Quote:
Originally posted by AOIIBrandi
I can change my class despite what I was born into. All it takes is determination on MY part.
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I think that's a nice thing to say, but is it really true? I don't know and I've never had to worry about it, because I was born into a middle class white family in the suburbs and had an excellent public school system. I have never been faced with these issues.
Sometimes I really doubt that it is in your power to change that much. For example, I had a client the other day whose mother was a drug dealer and who lived a life of complete poverty. She grew up with no parental support and guidance and as a result developed absolutely no self esteem. She fell in with a bad guy and is now looking at 4 years in prison because she picked up some crack for him, arguably not even knowing what it was because it was hidden inside another item. Does she have the power to change her class? What about the girl who grows up in the projects, sees her brother shot dead in gang warfare, whose mother is on drugs and who goes through a public school system so crappy they can't even afford books or stop the violence that occurs every day? How does she even know that there's anything else out there? How does she know that she can do it if nobody ever tells her that she can, or even that there is anything she can do differently from what she has seen her whole life? How can she compete against people like me and get into college?