updated 2mo ago
Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
I’ve also heard graduates of top universities say marriage is “just a piece of paper.” People shouldn’t have to prove their commitment to their spouse with a document, they tell me. I have never heard them ridicule a college degree as “just a piece of paper.” Many affluent people belittle marriage, but not college, because they view a degree as cri
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Motivation is just a feeling. Self-discipline is: “I’m going to do this regardless of how I feel.”
from Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson
As I browsed various online forums trying to learn about college, I came across a book published in 1983 with an intriguing title: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. I bought a copy and discovered a new lens to understand education. The book claimed that the criteria we use to define the tiers of the social hierarchy
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For behaviors and habits to be stable and predictable, one’s environment needs to be stable and predictable.
from Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson
I figured Professor Haidt would speak about moral psychology, the theme of his book. But instead, on the day of the talk, Haidt discussed the purpose of a university. He urged the audience to consider whether the aim of higher education is to protect students or to equip them with the ability to seek truth, and he was clearly in favor of the latter
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That was the language many students used. Danger and harm and pain. Words like trauma meant something different for them.
from Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson
White privilege is the luxury belief that took me the longest to understand, because I grew up around a lot of poor white people. Affluent white college graduates seem to be the most enthusiastic about the idea of white privilege, yet they are the least likely to incur any costs for promoting that belief. Rather, they raise their social standing by
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Many students would routinely claim that systemic forces were working against them, yet they seemed pleased to demonstrate how special they were for rising above those impediments. This spawned a potent blend of victimhood and superiority.
from Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson
had been enrolled in six different elementary schools before entering the third grade.
from Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson
I’ve come to believe that upward social mobility shouldn’t be our priority as a society. Rather, upward mobility should be the side effect of far more important things: family, stability, and emotional security for children. Even if upward mobility were the primary goal, a safe and secure family would help achieve it more than anything else. Conven
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