Wealthy parents mean that their kids are more likely to be able to do risky things like doing startups, and their connections allow the kids to get funding that is otherwise unavailable. And so there's a real temptation for the kids to do something risky, as they know they can get bailed out if they fail too hard. So the question then: How to keep them in school?
A degree provides its own sort of security, which any parent would want for their kids. A naive way would be to just cut off the kids if they fail at some risky scheme to make money; But I doubt many people would be able to do that, it's just too cruel. Then, incentives don't work very well, as the kids already come from money, and there's few other incentives to offer, since money simultaneously provides security and makes life generally easier. Punishment also comes to mind, but again the problem with the parents enforcing that sort of thing. I'm honestly stumped.
Then, if it's hard(er) to keep kids of wealthy people in school, does that mean that that process results in a generation of people that have inherited wealth and that are poorly educated? Does wealth naturally lead to people that have trouble with advanced topics and concepts, because their education is lacking? That paints a pretty grim picture of the future, since wealth controls so much of many people's lives, and having the poorly educated as part of the de-facto ruling class is generally bad for everyone involved (even them).
Having rich parents definitely makes dropping out a safer bet but I think the parents would still be opposed to it because they went to college and so did all of their rich friends.
> Then, if it's hard(er) to keep kids of wealthy people in school, does that mean that that process results in a generation of people that have inherited wealth and that are poorly educated?
Students with poor parents are still several times more likely to drop out (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/Indicator_COJ/coe_coj_2...). I'm sure very very few dropouts did it to chase an opportunity (I haven't met anyone who did what I did). They did it because they couldn't handle the schoolwork or couldn't afford college anymore.
smarm52|1 year ago
Wealthy parents mean that their kids are more likely to be able to do risky things like doing startups, and their connections allow the kids to get funding that is otherwise unavailable. And so there's a real temptation for the kids to do something risky, as they know they can get bailed out if they fail too hard. So the question then: How to keep them in school?
A degree provides its own sort of security, which any parent would want for their kids. A naive way would be to just cut off the kids if they fail at some risky scheme to make money; But I doubt many people would be able to do that, it's just too cruel. Then, incentives don't work very well, as the kids already come from money, and there's few other incentives to offer, since money simultaneously provides security and makes life generally easier. Punishment also comes to mind, but again the problem with the parents enforcing that sort of thing. I'm honestly stumped.
Then, if it's hard(er) to keep kids of wealthy people in school, does that mean that that process results in a generation of people that have inherited wealth and that are poorly educated? Does wealth naturally lead to people that have trouble with advanced topics and concepts, because their education is lacking? That paints a pretty grim picture of the future, since wealth controls so much of many people's lives, and having the poorly educated as part of the de-facto ruling class is generally bad for everyone involved (even them).
saas_man|1 year ago
> Then, if it's hard(er) to keep kids of wealthy people in school, does that mean that that process results in a generation of people that have inherited wealth and that are poorly educated?
Students with poor parents are still several times more likely to drop out (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/Indicator_COJ/coe_coj_2...). I'm sure very very few dropouts did it to chase an opportunity (I haven't met anyone who did what I did). They did it because they couldn't handle the schoolwork or couldn't afford college anymore.
hiAndrewQuinn|1 year ago
OP notwithstanding, congrats saas_man. But yeah, most rich people would stick it out to get the bachelor's unless their startup was doing really well.