How much was the tuition in your random school?
Would you have been able to get the same education if you had been born in a poorer country?
These are good questions to ask when talking about privilege.
Would you have been able to get the same education if you had been born in a poorer country?
These are good questions to ask when talking about privilege.
For a long time, I thought I deserved most of my success because I just happened to love computer science and felt compelled sinking hours into it, therefore becoming a better programmer. It felt easy.
The truth is quite different, though.
I didn't do a fancy engineering school. I went to a French university; the tuition was ridiculously low (and it was, in fact, mostly health insurance). Maybe 1000 eur/year? It was in Francs back then anyway.
But.
But.
I had the immense privilege of having a computer at home when I was a kid.
And I had a dad who let me use the computer, let me read some books on BASIC, Pascal, then taught me stuff when I needed to.
And I had a dad who let me use the computer, let me read some books on BASIC, Pascal, then taught me stuff when I needed to.
I bet that there are millions of humans who would have done better than me in the same conditions, but didn't, because they were born with less access to technology.
Oh, not just technology, but having food and a roof on their heads.
Oh, not just technology, but having food and a roof on their heads.
We like to think about "geniuses" like Jobs and Bezos, "they started with nothing!", but that's just bullshit. Look it up. Look at what they had access to. Jobs had Wozniak who had access to HP equipment. Bezos got a 6-digit loan from is parents.
Think about it next time somebody feels like quoting Ayn Rand or tooting the rotten horn of "meritocracy".
