The advantages of disadvantage

The Weinberg anecdote illustrates the value of many things - being an independent thinker, frank talker, contrarian, or having a good shtick - but it does not on the face of it illustrate the "advantages of disadvantages."

Furthermore, the ranks of highly successful people who play up their disadvantaged backgrounds are legion. Scientist Richard Feynman famously played up his working class Queens, NYC, roots, but the only reason he was able to escape them was not his devotion to hard work (lots of people have that) but his brilliant mind. And Martha Stewart plays up the virtues of her Nutley, NJ, Polish-American origins, while downplaying the fact that she was a teenaged beauty queen and model. The former may have taught her hard work and domestic skills, but it was the latter that opened many doors for her, including the crucial one of being able to marry Andy Stewart, the heir of the publishing empire Stewart, Chang, Tabori (sp?). Chances are, no amount of personal talent or virtue would have opened that door otherwise.

I think that there probably are some advantages to disadvantages - in some instances - but you have to be really careful when using a headline like that. It smacks of outdated Horatio Algierism. Being disadvantaged just stinks, especially in the context of dysfunctional society built almost entirely around consumerist values and lacking a safety net or even just decent public schools for the poor (which Feynman, Stewart and presumably Weinberg himself benefited from). I suggest people who are interested in this topic read Shipler's The Working Poor, in which he talks about how most of the poor people he interviewed have made their share of mistakes, but also face barriers that impede them despite their best efforts.

Advantages of Privilege? President and Mediocrity in Chief George W. Bush. And an army of dissolute Kennedy's.

When I was a young guy, I shared a house in Princeton with another guy who worked at the university. He was an alum. Worked in development, i.e., fund raising. He told me that 20% of the Princeton freshman slots were legacy set asides. In other words, they wouldn't be admitted based on their credentials alone.

I'm not voting for Obama, but when people were yapping about Michele Obama's affirmative action admittances and clamoring to see her collegiate work so they could evaluate its quality, I wondered how come there's not the same kind of interest in legacy grads and their academic profiles.

Why aren't those dopes also stretched through the wringer?

On the other hand, a mediocrity from Weinberg's neighborhood would have no chance of getting rich on Wall Street. A mediocrity from a privileged background has a chance.

Indeed. That's why I say we scholarships aimed at the top of a class to the best universities are often a bit silly. The exceptional help themselves. The real divide in this country is between those of average intelligence.

If you are an 'average' middle class kid, when you graduate high school, you can take a few years to get schooling, be it a bachelors or just an associate degree. Or intern somewhere for a few years. Either way, you have an actual career.

It's not a glamorous doctor or lawyer career, it's a 'clerical work' or 'car repairman' career, but it is a career. It lets you have a house, it lets you possible move to your own business, it lets you support your own kids for a few years while they get a career.

The 'average' lower class, OTOH, end up going to work straight out of school, or even during school, or even dropping out of school. They don't have any ability to 'waste time' to start their career, and they end up flipping burgers for sixteen years. (Or, in fact, turning to a career of crime.)

The best thing we could do it help get rid of the class divide is to take a 'full ride' scholarship to Princeton and instead give them to two dozen different 'average' students and help them take associate degrees in air conditioning repair or small engine repair or something. An actual job skill.

I won't even mention where the average upper class ends up. I think we've all figured that out by ourselves.