This wasn’t true in Ireland in the 70s or 80s, a far poorer country than contemporary America. The US system of funding higher education has many, many problems but not allowing smart people to study more is not among them. If you can get admitted to medical school you will get a loan to cover the costs.
> A child of a high-school teacher simply isn't becoming an Olympic figure skater. The monetary investment is far too titanic.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, is the child of a middle school principal and a police officer. Tiger Woods is the son of an infantry officer. Money is not the limiting factor on more people becoming elite level athletes. It’s some combination of talent and insane, deluded commitment.
> Engineering used to be one of the few fields where you could transition from blue collar to white collar even if you were a child from a poor family. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be very true, anymore.
The average US college graduate has $35,000 in debt. Engineering is one of the fields where your college matters least. More people attend college than at any time in US history.
It seems more true than ever before. Software engineering in particular is probably one of the least credential sensitive careers in existence, and is huge and growing faster than just about any other job market.
I sometimes wonder about all the complaining that goes on about software engineering interviews. In many (maybe most) other fields of comparable earning potential, the gatekeepers are 4-12 years of schooling and professional unions, not a few hours of awkward whiteboarding.
Yup. I know successful ones without even a high school diploma. I have no academic education in CS.
> all the complaining
I do, too. One thing never mentioned is that a lot of people apply for software jobs with fraudulent resumes and just having memorized some jargon. The job interviewer needs some way to filter out these people before committing to 6 months of a high salary. Sure, they'll miss a few diamonds in the rough, but it's likely better than hiring a team of frauds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzuru_Hanyu
> Regarded as one of, if not the greatest male figure skater in history, Hanyu has broken world records nineteen times ...
> Hanyu was born ... the second and youngest child to his father, who is a junior high school teacher
Oh, maybe this doesn't count? After all, his father was a junior high school teacher. /s
The exception merely proves the rule. Not sarcasm.
Who paid for their ice time? Who paid for them to live in Canada? Who paid for Brian Orser to be their coach?
The fact that someone somewhere hits the jackpot on their first pull in no way changes the fact that the majority lose.
And how many children as good or better didn't get this kind of support?
I guess you mean that teachers do a lot of lobbying, and take that to indicate job dissatisfaction. But if so, that's a mistake. Thinking that you aren't receiving enough funding and simultaneously enjoying your work are not mutually exclusive.
Actually, I suspect that most teachers discourage their children to follow in their footsteps ...
And your points about doctors, olympians, academics, etc. have a common point:
Large, up front expenditure of money.
A child of a steelworker simply isn't becoming a doctor short of a very, very small number of paths (generally involving military service).
A child of a high-school teacher simply isn't becoming an Olympic figure skater. The monetary investment is far too titanic.
Engineering used to be one of the few fields where you could transition from blue collar to white collar even if you were a child from a poor family. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be very true, anymore.