Om Patel0:02 So I'm going to speak about something that I don't think a lot of attention is brought on to.0:08 Um, and it's about education and inequality.0:11 You know, why do a lot of schools, or not a lot, why do some schools have a lot more opportunities than others?0:17 In America, coming not every student gets the same shot at success.0:22 Um coming from a rural school myself, some schools have new technologies, small class sizes, and great teachers, while, you know, some of the places that I went to school at, they had old buildings, not enough resources, not enough teachers.0:34 A lot comes down to money.0:35 Schools in wealthier areas usually get a lot more funding through local taxes, which honestly that creates a cycle because then the rich neighborhoods get better schools and the better schools lead to better jobs and income.0:47 I think education should be a pl even even playing field.0:51 It shouldn't be something that's tilted one way or the other.0:55 Um the government should make sure that all these schools have the basics, good teachers, safe spaces, and modern tools so that you know every kid really has a chance to succeed the same way that their counterparts are.
Thomas Freer0:00 You know, funny you bring this up because I actually recently saw a um an Instagram reel that kind of totally encompassed what you're talking about.0:11 And it was basically a an Oxford professor, and he'd gone to Harvard for his undergrad, and he at the beginning was comparing Harvard to Oxford and talking about how Harvard is one of the worst schools when it comes to who they let in.0:29 They're all top 1% income, um, many of them privately educated, and that is in a huge part to their high value on legacies or parents or grandparents going to other Ivy League schools, prestigious schools, and then honestly, like networking to get into the school.0:51 Um, and he was um talking poorly about his alma mater because he went there, and he was trying to talk to the Oxford class.1:00 I believe it was some sort of graduation or some other ceremony, and he was saying that Oxford is much better because they don't do legacies, they are in fact a pure meritocracy in terms of admissions, but they still see the same issues of almost all of the classes and the top 1% of earners and their family's income, and almost all of them are privately educated growing up, and his basically his um his point was that even in a pure meritocracy, you're still gonna see these disparities.1:38 It's not um the admissions process is not able to weed that out.1:44 Um, and it's it what it comes down to is that these families that can't afford private education or can't afford tutors to increase their kids' ACT scores or SAT scores, those kids just aren't gonna get into the top schools, or it's gonna be way harder.2:01 And that's the issue that we're experiencing today.