Thursday, October 20, 2005
Aren't you glad we're alphas?
The company I work for is corporate but aescetic in that annoying left-wing, luke-warm showers kind of way. We use only donated office space, to save valuable cash for the improvished African children. The people who work out of our CT office get to work in the world headquarters of a certain evil corporation but we here in Michigan get spare cubicles in one of our high schools.
It's a magnet school that prides itself on diversity and draws from the 8 wealthiest school districts in the wealthiest county in the state (and third wealthist in the country)*. It's like a training ground for the future alphas of America.
These kids are required to choose an afterschool activity like Beginning Hindi, Scuba Diving in the Galapagos and Build Your Own Computer, costs of which range from $300-$2500. They, at the age of 15 can boast such resume builders as "month spent in South Africa with family" and "spent 2 years living in Germany" and "interned at prestigious law firm for the summer".
The weird thing is, I always felt pretty conscious of my own list of privileges, a family that paid for college, a good suburban public education, middle-class parents who help me out when money is tight. I unconcsiously but, guiltily, ranked myself amoung the alphas of the world. But spending any time with these kids just proves that I'll still, with all my advantage, never be able to compete with that kind of born and bred alpha-osity.
I dont' hold it against the kids. They are, overwhelmingly good hearted and respectful, hard workers and really want to make the world a better place. They didn't choose to be alphas. It adds a creepy tension to the cheerful rivalry my co-worker and I have over our favorite schools. The Alpha Institute is her favorite of her 4 schools and she is rooting for them. My favorite school out of my three is a in an impovished neighborhood that I love and am moving to soon. Even when we are jokingly comparing her student's 178 hours of community service to my students' 156 hours, there's this tiny unnecesary element of outrage I feel that one group of good hearted 14 year olds has as many advantages as this other equally good hearted group has obstacles.
Pulling down the self-esteem of a high school kid is easy and cruel but I want to find some way of reminding the alphas when they come together with other schools of the injustice that gives them all the things they have.
*it's the diversity claim that irks me the most. Sure the student come from many different countries but there are, at my count, 4 black students. Yeah, that's diverse.
It's a magnet school that prides itself on diversity and draws from the 8 wealthiest school districts in the wealthiest county in the state (and third wealthist in the country)*. It's like a training ground for the future alphas of America.
These kids are required to choose an afterschool activity like Beginning Hindi, Scuba Diving in the Galapagos and Build Your Own Computer, costs of which range from $300-$2500. They, at the age of 15 can boast such resume builders as "month spent in South Africa with family" and "spent 2 years living in Germany" and "interned at prestigious law firm for the summer".
The weird thing is, I always felt pretty conscious of my own list of privileges, a family that paid for college, a good suburban public education, middle-class parents who help me out when money is tight. I unconcsiously but, guiltily, ranked myself amoung the alphas of the world. But spending any time with these kids just proves that I'll still, with all my advantage, never be able to compete with that kind of born and bred alpha-osity.
I dont' hold it against the kids. They are, overwhelmingly good hearted and respectful, hard workers and really want to make the world a better place. They didn't choose to be alphas. It adds a creepy tension to the cheerful rivalry my co-worker and I have over our favorite schools. The Alpha Institute is her favorite of her 4 schools and she is rooting for them. My favorite school out of my three is a in an impovished neighborhood that I love and am moving to soon. Even when we are jokingly comparing her student's 178 hours of community service to my students' 156 hours, there's this tiny unnecesary element of outrage I feel that one group of good hearted 14 year olds has as many advantages as this other equally good hearted group has obstacles.
Pulling down the self-esteem of a high school kid is easy and cruel but I want to find some way of reminding the alphas when they come together with other schools of the injustice that gives them all the things they have.
*it's the diversity claim that irks me the most. Sure the student come from many different countries but there are, at my count, 4 black students. Yeah, that's diverse.
# posted by leah @ 12:12 AM 
