Thread: education or some shit

Tier 2 is roughly US News' 60-75th school down to around 120-150. Many of these are state schools (usually with a better reputation for athletics than education) that may have national recognition, but don't have national marketability. There are still brilliant students at these schools (I would say the top 1-5% at most national universities are interchangeable), but the average is lower.

When I said "at a school" I mean "attending a school." I was treating "upper socioeconomic class" as an absolute, based on a students' parents' affluence. Whether you go to community college or MIT, your socioeconomic status doesn't change (until you're independent of your parents, anyways.)

what is it about them that that guarantees that people in their upper socioeconomic class aren't smart?

Their academic reputation coupled with the behavior of the upper socioeconomic class. An affluent parent places a premium on education, and given a choice between a top tier or a second tier school, will always put their child in a top tier school. Any child of the upper class who attends one of these schools must not have been able to attend a better school because, by definition of the class itself, he would have gone to that school instead.

Again, in general terms. And the numbers are probably fudged based on local variations in perceptions (for example, Auburn is a thoroughly tier 2 school that still attracts a considerably amount of relatively intelligent affluence because of localized perception of the value of its degree--it can get you a competitive job in Atlanta, Birmingham, etc. In that sense, it becomes a rich kid's party school like any other.)

Originally Posted by Atmoscheer

Their academic reputation coupled with the behavior of the upper socioeconomic class. An affluent parent places a premium on education, and given a choice between a top tier or a second tier school, will always put their child in a top tier school. Any child of the upper class who attends one of these schools must not have been able to attend a better school because, by definition of the class itself, he would have gone to that school instead.

I guess I disagree with this assessment, though maybe I don't know enough rich people to say. At least I don't agree that this assessment is compelling enough to support your claim that kids from wealthy families who attend tier 2 schools are dumb.