What this post is talking about is the lie of white bigoted and white privileged culture. I grew up in the deep south, but in a poor family. I was taught by my parents (and it was pretty obvious to me) that if I was going to be and do anything, I had to work hard for it. I was never told that lie.
"It's NOT FAIR that my kids didn't win any scholarships!" my friend Kameon groused.
It was understandable. In high school, her white, school-hating twins, Chloe and Travis, got these results:
To win scholarships and get into college, a strong personal essay is required. School activities and community service are important.
The twins didn't want to apply for scholarships. Kameon asked me to help them. There is no computer, printer, pens or paper in Kameon's house. With difficulty, I lugged my computer, printer, scholarship lists and supplies needed.
So, I helped Travis apply for 200 scholarships through the Washington fruit industry. Chloe immediately dropped out saying, "I'll apply for scholarships myself." She didn't.
Both twins screwed around and missed the deadline to apply for community college starting in September. They felt embarrassed when all of their friends left for college, leaving them behind.
Travis feels entitled to inherit his grandparent's extensive fruit orchards. Yet he has many cousins ahead of him. It's a pipe dream.
Chloe wants to be a esthetician in the beauty industry. She will work in her mother's hair styling salon.
A gun nut, Travis loves hunting. I feel concerned about his lack of motivation, sense of entitlement and stockpile of guns. Disturbing.
I think if people would go through a similar analysis, they would see exactly where the problems lie...I do this with my nieces when they say that "luck" was against them...in some cases, well, let's be honest...in MOST cases, it just took one bad decision to get the ball rolling towards a bad result...
Thanks for sharing this...it is eye-opening and such a good example...
Kameon is one of my best friends. I have known the twins since they were seven.
I felt obligated. Each year, I told Kameon how much the students I mentored won in scholarships.
One of my best success stories is Brenda, who won $269,456 in scholarships and grants in 2016.
One application with Washington State Fruit Growers made Travis eligible for 200 scholarships. That was easy.
I knew the teens would not win anything. I told them it was a long shot because of their lousy grades and lack of participation in volunteering and school activities.
Since the oldest son started college, I have been helping him fill out the Federal Application for Student Financial Aid (FASFA). In 2018, I helped all three kids apply using Kameon's tax return.
Because their mother is low income, they all got $6,300 in Pell grants from FASFA. This paid for community college.
With three teens in college at once, Kameon could not afford it.
I only hauled my printer to Kameon's twice. Asked Travis to carry it, keeping it level each time.
I was done after two visits. I wound up writing their personal essays for them, something I never do.Their spelling was deplorable. Apart from a deadbeat dad, there was nothing about their lives that would touch a scholarship committee's heart.
Getting reference letters was impossible. Their grandparents finally wrote a letter of reference for each kid. I knew this wouldn't fly with scholarship committees.
Instead they needed letters of reference from:
The ideas postulated by the new Poster Boy of the disaffected white male...Jordan Peterson, and others like him, are driving this agenda.
I do not agree with the angry white male but I think we have a lot of them. Trump got elected and his behavior is allowing many of them to come out of the woodwork. Misguided white people who say outright to anyone who is mixed that they would rather kill you as look at you. People who think their privilege is being taken away and also want to continue the myth of a pure Aryan race. Wake up, fool! We are all mixed.
Many are angry for not achieving what they dreamed when many never even got the chance to dream at all...