On Class

[tinyshel]

One of the things that I think I'm finding the hardest about getting a PhD is that I feel like I'm from a completely different class bracket than everyone else. ALL of my friends' parents are either academics, doctors or lawyers--or some combination of these. I'm not kidding--I can only think of ONE of my friends who can join me in saying that we

Comments

[everlovingmoon]

:hugs: I get what you mean. I want to do my four year PhD dissertation whatever-its-called- thingy, while most of my family (except, thankgod, my parents) is like; oh, you're gonna finish this year, so you can get a job! while for me, studying is the ultimate fulfilling of my potential, not getting a job for the rest of my life... ah well.

Not sure if it's very connected to your post, but want to add this as well: I saw a report on the telly about the people in the US who are living below the poverty level. 30 million! Crazynuts. Anyway, as I understood the main reasons for that are healthcare and not getting paid when you're sick. Well, I think that's fundamentally wrong- in NL (which, btw, is really not perfection, but IMHO already pretty damn close) almost everyone has healthcare. Basic healthcare is a 100 euro a month, but if you have a low income you'll get a discount. So nearly everyone at least has it, except for those few for whom it is a matter of principle. And- not getting paid when you're ill? That's nuts! I have a shit job at a supermarket and even I get paid when I'm ill! I also get more than your national minimum wage! Something's definitely not right there...

Anyways, blabla me...

[tinyshel]

Yes, I completely agree with you about the healthcare system in the US being horrible. It's completely privitised and there's virtually no safety net. Now that I'm living in England, I see that their National Healthcare System isn't great, but I still prefer it to when I lived in the US without health insurance. Ah, but NL always sounds so so nice and progressive. *dreamy sigh*