If I were a poor black kid...

After reading this article I couldn't agree more with the contentions that this author brought to the table. He focused on the specific things he saw necessary for any underprivileged student to get ahead. He gave specific examples of the way he would approach the situation of being a poor black kid. No matter your socioeconomic background I do believe if you work hard enough you can get ahead. Many kids in this situation just don’t know where to find these opportunities to help them get ahead. The overburdened school systems that these children attend aren’t the problem; the problem is the kids just don’t want to make an effort to go above and beyond the call to make them stand out. The second article I read in response to this original article talked about how these types of opportunities are unrealistic for an underprivileged student. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with the second article but I do think that the original article made it sound way too easy for these things to all fall into place. The part that threw me about all these responses was how most of the people believed it over stepped its boundaries for this article to be published by a person who didn’t personally experience it themselves. I also wouldn’t agree with the notion in the response article about how there is no way these kids would know about these opportunities. The whole point of these resources is to help those who need it and when someone isn’t interested in the help then it will be impossible for them use it. The original article is spot on with the idea that everyone can find success only if they know to start looking for opportunities to get ahead.