(Source: owsposters)

Please quash this phony bootstrapper bullshit.

If you see this ridiculous photo on your dash or Facebook News Feed, please do not let it stand. Below, I have given some responses that you are free to borrow or steal.

“I expect nothing to be handed to me.”
Except two scholarships covering NINETY PERCENT of the student’s tuition?!

Those aren’t available to everyone. I’d say it takes a bit of pluck for this student to celebrate herself so tauntingly.

Conservatives will reply “Yeah, but she earned her scholarships.”

I’m sure she had to get good grades to qualify for her scholarship. But scholarships don’t just materialize out of thin air every time a student works hard. This suggestion she makes that everyone would be fine if they just worked as hard as she does is arrogant and false. There’s still a lot of luck involved (too much) and her message shows she takes that completely for granted.

Scholarships have gotten more and more scarce since the early eighties, and the prevalence of student debt is one of the symptoms of the growing wealth disparity that people are now protesting.

Conservatives will say “Yeah, but people think they deserve a handout even if they haven’t proven they’ll be a good investment.”

Anyone who gains admission to college has proven through their grades and standardized tests that there’s a good chance they’ll make industrious use of an advanced education.

During the past several decades, our government has proven that it values an investment in education less than it values tax cuts, bailouts and corporate welfare for the very wealthy. As a result, it’s become harder and harder for middle class families to see their children go on to get college degrees.

Some people think that’s not the smartest thing we could be doing. And this young lady looks down on people who feel that way because everything worked out for her.