It read entirely like you were saying getting a scholarship is easy because it was for you and that there are no barriers in place that add a difficult curve for others based off your example. Your example still reads like an exception to the reality of the situation.
You totally missed what I was saying, considering that I said about 2 posts ago that there are people who have mediocre grades and work their asses off for them. Also, junior colleges are filled by all types of people, not just shitbags. Some people may not want to go away to school. Others may be very undecided regarding their course of study and just want to take some core classes on the cheap. Some may have had good grades in high school but choked on the SATs.
I speak with confidence about Community College having gone to and graduating from one while meeting and seeing several people that attended and interacting with faculty. Yes there are many more reasons people attend CC. Did I not say "if it is not for
personal circumstances, they either aren't as gifted as you or didn't qualify competitively to where ever it is they want to go." That doesn't make anyone a shitbag. That was your term not mine.
My point is that you're making some ridiculous assumptions about the entirety of the national college population that simply don't hold true. For someone to universally say that one must pay his own way through school to appreciate their education, and in the next breath say that people on scholarship are exempt by virtue of being extra-hard workers, is absurd.
I didn't say having a scholarship is an exemption from hard work.
"People and what they consider hard work varies from intellect to intellect just like physical labor varies from person to person. If you are gifted and find it easy, congratulations, that's your rite of an elite minority. But at the same time what about the people who aren't so gifted who make up the majority of the population?" - me
I'm failing to see whats not true about this statement. I basically said some people are more talented/smarter/gifted than others, but they are a minority and their path won't apply to the majority.
They were miserable and often fell behind their peers because while their peers were working unpaid internships and making connections, they were flipping burgers or folding clothes for 30+ hours a week to make ends meet.
What? You mean like me? I didn't flip burgers, but I worked retail and where ever else I could to make up th difference. I still remember taking evening tests, working overnight, getting 3 hours of sleep, and taking another test. I also busted my ass at the same time to be involved in just as many activities and opportunities as my peers who did have money for school. Graduated with a 3.8 to boot. In hindsight I'm glad my parents didn't pay a cent. I did things with my life I never thought possible because of it. You call it being miserable. Sure if you are complacent. I saw it as an opportunity to build character.
However, the majority of people who are paying their own way through college take out loans, and those don't hit you until after you graduate.
I'm going that route, too. I wanted an education and a commission and that's what I have. I'd pay double what I do and work twice as hard all over again if it mean keeping it. Thats just the kind of resolve I have given my experiences. You see it as a burden. In a way I can't deny that you are right. I see it as challenge worthy of keeping what I have. Again, a mentality I have having had to find my own way to pay for college.
I stand by the opinion that having college paid for by your parents won't get you the same character as paying your own way. At least by earning a scholarship, you are demonstrating self-reliance. How is having your parents pay for college demonstrating self-reliance?