#sorry for the RANT i just get frustrated by this whole. ‘im not smart’ mindset a lot of people have

[kohakhearts]

ok wait theres a poll about student loans going around and i see a lot of people in the notes being like “yeah i needed loans because i was poor AND stupid :(” and i’m like.

but that’s the system??? like this “rags to riches” narrative about kids who grow up in poverty and then go to like harvard on full-rides or whatever - it’s a fucking myth, dude. american dream propaganda. has it actually happened? sure, probably. but that has nothing to do with unnaturally high IQ or genius genes or whatever the fuck. that’s not how it WORKS. if you’re poor, you’re “stupid” because no one invested the time and resources into making you smart. largely, probably, because they literally couldn’t. poor family = overworked, absent parents, no matter how hard they try to be there for their kids, and that’s just how it is and it fucking sucks but it doesn’t mean you’re unintelligent because your mom couldn’t read you bedtime stories because she had to work the evening shift every weeknight, it means that you were robbed of necessary emotional connection and forced into developmental delays as a result that unfortunately, yeah, stay with you for the rest of your life.

like SINCERELY there is no measure for intelligence that does not automatically demean the socially disadvantaged and it is so, so, so important that you unlearn the idea that intelligence CAN be measured, let alone compared; because actually how “smart” someone is has a lot to do with how much energy they have on a day-to-day basis, which has a lot to do with how society treats them, which has a lot to do with how much money they have.

think about it, right?? i mean, in a better system, merit-based scholarships would not exist, because funding would go to low-income students who do not have time to study or participate in extracurriculars because they have to cook and clean for themselves and work 20 hours a week at the same time as they’re a full-time student. do you ever notice how dean’s list scholarships are granted to students without them even needing to apply, but financial aid forms are 5+ pages long and require you to write letters that are essentially the text equivalent of getting on your hands and knees and begging? and even then, it’s got such a slim chance of doing anything for you. so much effort for such little reward when you leave home at 7am to go to school and return home from work at 11pm and wake up the next day to do it all again.

it’s all structural, dude. you’re not unintelligent. you just weren’t allowed to be smart. and no one wants to give you a second chance at it, either. and that fucking sucks. but you’ve gotta stop calling yourself stupid or the “stupid” kids of tomorrow are never going to get the chances you didn’t