[thechat] kiddy domains

[Erika Meyer]

>surprises me thatthis is what parents have to do in the US to 
>finance the future of their children.

College is one of those major expenses for Americans, one of those 
things that separates the classes in this "classless" society.

There are scholarships, loans, etc., but you have to be savvy to get 
them, and you can fall between the cracks.

It's pretty hard to come from a family where no one has been to 
college and do all it takes to get an education, even if your grades 
are high.  There's a lot of hoops to jump thru.  High school 
counselors and admissions counselors are supposed to help & sometimes 
they do.

In my teaching days, though, I saw poor & minority students get 
written off and not helped or encouraged with the college application 
process even though their grades were high and they voiced their 
desire to go to college.  It infuriated me.

I worked for "Upward Bound" a state-sponsored program in California 
that tried to help students who were low-income, came from families 
with no college, and had high grades.  We tried to help them apply 
for loans, get in touch with college, develop study habits, etc. 
What a bunch of amazing students they were.

But there's a huge split between the working class and the educated 
class... and it's not really all that easy to climb up that ladder... 
and there are costs... there are social differences, cultural 
differences... stuff you'd never think of...

I've been up, I've been down,
I've been underclass,
working class, white collar...
but never completely at home.

Erika
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