Brute Reason

Great summary:

Some of the big policy messages coming out of that article in the New York Times include:

• low-income kids lack social capital which would otherwise help them navigate educational institutions and their place in them;
• low-income kids need to earn money while also studying full-time;
• low-income kids often have to leave their community and family to go to a good university and therefore encounter emotional disadvantage;
• low-income kids often provide the unpaid care services their families require at the expense of their own education and needs (and low-income families are less able to pay for therapies they need and so rely more heavily on unpaid care work in their own families, plus, being poor is stressful and physically depleting);
• low-income kids try not to achieve too much academically in order to protect their families from further expenses and a sense of rejection;
• low-income kids are expected to adapt to the culture and lifestyle of high-income kids when they attend university;
• low-income kids are disadvantaged by not being able to afford the extra-curricula help that high-income kids receive with their education;
• low-income kids go into debt to pay off their education but with the risk of lower chances of graduating and consequently lower chances of gaining a high salary job to pay off their debt;
• low-income kids are more likely to see education as a ‘selfish’ pursuit on their part; and,
• low-income kids lack a safety net when things go wrong.