AIBU to think that everybody should watch this? It opened my eyes

[almutasakieun]

As for where I'd be in the race, I'd probably have gotten a couple of headstarts, but by no means all.

I just thought it was interesting.

Juells - so only 'responsible' parents send their kids to private school or tutor their kids?!

That was a red herring, and doesn't apply to UK or Ireland. It might make a huge difference in the US, but can't see that it does on this side of the Atlantic.

I think the video goes hand in hand with the ACEs movement, which started in America some time ago.
There has been a lot of study to show that your childhood experiences directly relate to not only the opportunities afforded in life but also the overall health of the person.

Obviously it doesn't fit in with some UK matters, being that it is American made. I'm assuming all of these teens are from the same area, one where there are already heavy divides between those who have and those who have not. Not to mention that America doesn't have the benefits we do and so yes, being from a single parent family/not having a male in the house/relying on the state education available near you is something that can hold you back and, because of the historical race relations in the US, it is the children from non-white ethnicities that are disadvantaged.

It would be easy to change the statements over here to make it fit. I teach in a class where one child has private tutoring 3x a week, as well as extra curricular activities and one child has an absent father and a negligent mother and who, at 9 years old, is responsible for getting themself organised and ready each day. A child who has both parents together and a father that own a company, big house and fancy cars and another child who has never even left the country and makes use of the 365 meals because their parent has no money. Those who have don't realise the extent of the 'privilege' they have over their classmates and how that has impacted their lives already.

Red herring? It applies more to this country than the usa. I don't agree with private education. All mine are state educated.

And yes, the determination and motivation outweighed some of the privilege in the video but, for those children, that isn't how life works.
In a system such as America where everything is funded by the individual, from healthcare to further education, determination and motivation will only get you so far. Money will do the rest.

Being a single parent has made things more difficult for the children, but it is a lot better than being in a family where there is DV.

My dad had very little advantage but was able to work and give me some advantages. His hard work has mitigated some of the disadvantages of me being a single parent. He has also taught me how to budget, and live within our means and save and we are bloody lucky to have had enough to save and cover the budget, some can't as there is not enough and that is shit.

I did notice that there was no mention of disability. The children have inherited my condition, which I inherited from my parents, they have also managed to inherit another disability from both parents. We have really fucked them up.

We still managed to take a few steps though so we are lucky.

That was a red herring, and doesn't apply to UK or Ireland.
It definitely does apply to Ireland, plenty of family and friends now send their DC to be tutored to get to college, little Johnny can do grinds in Ashfield college and little Susie can't afford the books to attend secondary school. The books alone in the secondary school are 400euro, then trips, stationery, lots of DC do not have books here in secondary school.
Public education is very expensive in Ireland from juniors to university.

Privilege is much more complex than this.
Obviously, but I think you're missing the point. It is meant as a device to help people understand how privilege is an advantage you have through no effort of your own.

While the video is very American based statements that work in the UK can be proposed:

Do you live in an area which means you go to a better school (whether by accident, you just live ther or by design your parents chose to move there)
Do either of your parents have higher level education (more important for girls and mothers but statistically relevant)
Did you attend a child led nursery?
We're you able to access after school activities (both funded ones and paid for ones make a difference)

You have to remember all of these questions are looking at the 'population" ot individual children/families and that in the UK there has been loads of research into this and the oddest things matter

Lush they’re kids so I doubt they’re paying their own phone bills, it an indication that they are from poor families.
I took every step but one forward my dh would have taken every step. It’s ridiculous to not realise our privilege. I went to primary school with girls who are just as bright as me but living very different lives from me now. Girls who wouldn’t have taken a single step forward and now their kids are in the same position.

because the people left at the back found it deeply humiliating, as, it seems, did these guys. The point is well made, but at the expense of the people with no advantages

^ This. Also, having those advantages is no guarantee of happiness in life. I would have taken several steps forward but my childhood was unhappier than my children who would have been closer to the starting line because the advantages that they have had have been very different to mine but equally as valuable.

"But would have been more realistic if the males took 5 more steps forward and then the white people 5 steps forward. And a couple of steps for the heterosexuals. And no mention of any kids with disabilities...they weren't even there.
Privilege is much more complex than this"

Absolutely.

Also I would have stepped forward on the Parent thing, but my Parents were abusive.

So anyone growing up in an abusive household, couldn't really take part in that.

You hear the statement "well my Parents weren't perfect", but it's like telling a battered wife that every couple argues.

The video is a good start off tool, but it would alienate a lot of people.

sailorcherries
That is so sad the differences between the students.

The books alone in the secondary school are 400euro, then trips, stationery, lots of DC do not have books here in secondary school.

There's a back-to-school grant for clothes and footwear, and a School Book Grant scheme.

So according to the video, you are more likely to "win at life" if the following apply:

-Both of your parents are still married
-If you grew up with a father figure in the home
-If you had access to a private education
-If you had access to a free tutor growing up
-If you never had to worry about your cell phone being shut off
-If you never had to help mom or dad with the bills
-If it wasn't because of your athletic ability, you don't have to pay for college
-If you never wondered where your next meal was gonna come from

Firstly, what does "winning at life" mean? It's not clear in the video.

My parents are still married, and my father lived in the same house as me. Also, my father was physically and emotionally abusive, and my mother neglected me. In what way does their marriage, or my abuser's presence make me privileged?! There are many single, unmarried, widowed, separated etc. parents who provide a loving and stable upbringing. Separation and divorce of parents can be traumatic for children, but to assume by default that married parents makes someone privileged is ridiculous.

I got four steps, but my reality is I've suffered with poor mental health most of my life and underachieved academically, with lasting consequences on my work life, earning potential and relationships.

As for the bit where the guy says, "If you didn't learn anything from this activity, you're a fool", it's taught me that people are still mindlessly consuming bullshit without critical thought. Probably the same chumps who shared Kony 2012 everywhere.

I don’t like this and as a teacher there is no way I would show it. It was a lesson for the privileged to realise how advantaged they are, and it humiliated those at the back. There was no discussion about how the playing field could be levelled, there was no lesson for the underprivileged here, they were just props.

Interesting that he takes the ownership of a cell phone as a given.

My children came from a home with one parent. Didn't have private education. Frequently had the electric off because I hadn't paid the bill. Had the phone cut off for months, and had to get a phone under a friend's name as I couldn't pay the bill + re-connection fee. I didn't - and don't - feel that my children laboured under huge disadvantages.

I can see both sides.

I think he could have started with, "take a step forward if you think you deserve to win".

I can understand how something like parents who are together but drunk and fighting all the time IS a disadvantage but it is not a binary choice, for this exercise it need to be things with a simple yes/no answer.

There's a back-to-school grant for clothes and footwear, and a School Book Grant scheme

Yes I think it is 160, the average cost of secondary school is 700. You have to be unemployed to get it. We don't qualify for any grant and it cost approx 300.00 for primary child aged 10, giving they do a book rental scheme for 110.00 otherwise it would be more.
That wouldn't include school trips, stationary or educational week programmes or the fiver towards the school heating per month.

Yep I've seen that and it stuck with me. Very clever and thought provoking

Placemarking to watch later.

Sounds interesting

for this exercise it need to be things with a simple yes/no answer

I think that's why it's so flawed - privilege isn't composed of yes/no answers. It's much more subtle than that. You could produce 500 questions for people to answer and not really get to the bottom of it.

Very sobering. I am on the start line still, I must admit it irks me when people who have been handed opportunities think less of people who haven't got as far as them while not connecting the dots.

I used to have a 'friend' who lived at home for nothing while buying a unit that she rented out so it was being paid for, she went on to buy a second house and open up a small business while proclaiming that anyone that worked hard enough could have what she did . So many times I wanted to say to her 'Everything I have I worked damn hard for unlike you, you bitch ' haha, instead I cut her from my life.

I also did not like it. It was humiliating and demoralising for those left at the back. The looks on some of those kids faces was awful.

Having searched out this video it was also to highlight that on a US census the black population earned, on average, $20,000+ less than the national average and that the amount of black people living in poverty was almost double the national average.

The questions picked were not to highlight privilege as a whole but to highlight the inherent white privilege in America. How many black children were in the lead? How many of them could afford further education without a sports scholarship? How many of them had to contribute to household bills?

That was the point. Not privilege in it's entirety but race privilege which is still evident in America.