I don't. I'm from a lower class background and I absolutely don't believe it. Everyone told me dropping out of high school was taking the
easy way out. Guess what... It is! It is a lot easier having a life where you work 40 hours a week or less, get stoned all the time, and drift. I used to live that life, so I know. A lot of people I know still do. The guys who didn't bother to go to college but actually had a decent brain still work far less than me, have far less stress, and make on the order of $100k/year. That includes my high school dropout cousins in construction and my high school friend I taught how to program a computer who never went to college (instead spending time in jail for computer hacking).
I don't have much sympathy for single moms. Getting pregnant, carrying a baby to term, and keeping that child is three simple decisions that person made to have a child. To have a child, you don't have to work many years to be top of your undergrad class. You don't need to study for months to get a great MCAT score. You don't need to score well on Step I and never see the outside of a hospital during internship.
Now you need to support a child? There's welfare, food stamps, etc... I know all about this because all of the women in my family receive public assistance. None of them have a job that's anywhere near as difficult as ours. I mean really, you think a secretary's life is as difficult as ours?!
But c'mon...I've had the advantage of an upper middle class upbringing
I didn't, but that has nothing to do with this. Just because you grew up poor doesn't mean you don't have access to the same opportunities.
I don't spend all day out in the 115 degree temps digging ditches, directing traffic, mining coal.
Most of my family works driving trucks or doing construction. They make good money. Most of them don't work over 40 hours a week, but the ones that do make great money. They drink a lot of beer and the younger ones snort a lot of coke. The ones that work 40 hours a week have nice houses and cars.
My buddy from Montana and I talk about this a lot. His buddies back there throw pipe all day. They work 40 hours a week and make great money for the area. You don't even have to go to college. Go to school for a four year engineering degree and you're easily over $100k/year. Live in the remote places or up in Alaska/Canada and you get a lot of vacation time. I met one of them out in Thailand scuba diving--6 months/year of vacation he got just so he kept the pipes from freezing in the winter.
I don't worry about whether or not I am going to be able to feed my family.
Who worries about this?! I've been working and living with poor Americans for a long time and the only people who have that concern are those who are very mentally ill or substance addicted. Even my mom who can't hold a job and lives in an apartment that reminds of the third world gets her food stamps and her SSI check.
nope's complaints about his horrible life because he "only" got 2 weeks off at Christmas are insensitive to the vast majority of Americans who work for an hourly wage and do not have the advantages that we all have.
I'd love an hourly wage. It would be really funny if residencies had to pay us time and a half for everything over 40 hours a week
How about double pay over 60 hours a week?
I think for the ridiculous hours and stress we take on we should get more vacation. I know when I choose a residency and specialty, lifestyle is a big concern for me. I like to work hard. But I like to play hard too. Medicine shouldn't mean throwing the entire rest of your life away. 80 hours/week and 2 weeks/year of vacation to me is throwing your life away. Almost nobody else in society is expected to do that.
