I feel very much like those of lower socioeconomic standing at Carleton try to use their standing to claim they have more valid opinions than others because we are not as "privileged" as those with wealth. This is the part of being a low-income student that upsets me.
Often when I tell people I am part of the QuestBridge chapter here--a group of kids who got massive amounts of financial aid because we are "low income, high achieving" (to quote the QB website)--I am looked at very funny. I'm not feeling discriminated against because I am low-income; my experience with other QuestBridge members is that they try and lord their opinions over the wealthier folks, and are arrogant to no end about it. Others are aware of this, and judge me simply for being a "Questie," as our pet moniker seems to be. It has alienated me from QuestBridge, because it feels to me like a club for poor people who want to feel more important than rich people. I wish this was not the case, as I have met QuestBridge people outside of the context of the group who have been nothing short of amazing to me. Yet consistently, when I encounter the group as a whole, I feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable. As a result, I feel that I should shy away from a group intended to offer support, and I hesitate to identify with them at all (hence the anonymity of this piece).
We have no right to act superior because we assume we've been through more of a struggle financially, just as the wealthy have no right to discriminate against us. Another Carl once told me, "Tragedy should not be kept score of." All of our hardships are valid.
People here have mistaken me as being wealthy because I go to such an expensive school, and I simply politely correct them. It's often not something worth getting upset over. It's not discrimination--it's misunderstanding. Nobody here has cared about the label "low-income" because I don't broadcast it as part of my identity. It's not shameful to me, as my close friends are fully aware of my situation. People simply don't care about it enough to put forth the effort to discriminate. It is only when the label "QuestBridge" is applied to me that I am judged, because the group is seen as a clique of kids who try to wrap their identities around being low-income.
If you are a fellow Questie reading this, please be mindful of how you come off to others here. Don't lord your scholarship over them. Don't wrap your identity around being low-income. Don't try to say your life is worse than any single other person's. All it does is make a name for QuestBridge students.
- Anonymous
Often when I tell people I am part of the QuestBridge chapter here--a group of kids who got massive amounts of financial aid because we are "low income, high achieving" (to quote the QB website)--I am looked at very funny. I'm not feeling discriminated against because I am low-income; my experience with other QuestBridge members is that they try and lord their opinions over the wealthier folks, and are arrogant to no end about it. Others are aware of this, and judge me simply for being a "Questie," as our pet moniker seems to be. It has alienated me from QuestBridge, because it feels to me like a club for poor people who want to feel more important than rich people. I wish this was not the case, as I have met QuestBridge people outside of the context of the group who have been nothing short of amazing to me. Yet consistently, when I encounter the group as a whole, I feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable. As a result, I feel that I should shy away from a group intended to offer support, and I hesitate to identify with them at all (hence the anonymity of this piece).
We have no right to act superior because we assume we've been through more of a struggle financially, just as the wealthy have no right to discriminate against us. Another Carl once told me, "Tragedy should not be kept score of." All of our hardships are valid.
People here have mistaken me as being wealthy because I go to such an expensive school, and I simply politely correct them. It's often not something worth getting upset over. It's not discrimination--it's misunderstanding. Nobody here has cared about the label "low-income" because I don't broadcast it as part of my identity. It's not shameful to me, as my close friends are fully aware of my situation. People simply don't care about it enough to put forth the effort to discriminate. It is only when the label "QuestBridge" is applied to me that I am judged, because the group is seen as a clique of kids who try to wrap their identities around being low-income.
If you are a fellow Questie reading this, please be mindful of how you come off to others here. Don't lord your scholarship over them. Don't wrap your identity around being low-income. Don't try to say your life is worse than any single other person's. All it does is make a name for QuestBridge students.
- Anonymous