Eh. I would never know, or be able to conceive the thought of, that kind of money so if someone else wants to burn it in an oil barrel, or wipe their ass with it, is fine by me.
I'm not making an excuse for this particular person.
This is exactly what you are doing.
You blame the education system, but this is a person who received a full ride scholarship. And surely received loads of prudent financial advise. Come on. Be serious.
And like pjhawks said, the politicians or teachers or whoever aren't the ones turning inner city schools into war zones.
I have not made an excuse for Chris M. on this thread he surely screwed up and pissed away his money. I don't know what his particular situation was...maybe he grew up upper class with plenty of options, a great elementary, middle, and high school education with great parents and just fucked up because he got caught up in stuff. At the same time, politicians and businesspeople are certainly contributing to why we have shitty schools, how can you not believe that? They are taking money and focus away from school for children, taking money and focus away from safety nets for their parents, and systematically destroying the inner city and rural areas for that matter. I don't think that's really even debatable. Plus by the time these kids get to wherever it is they are having their free ride their teachers aren't speaking to them in any way that captures their understandings of the world around them. If a majority of our athletes are growing up in this situation then surely this is a systemic problem. This is easily an example of the failures of late capitalism to provide for the many on all fronts (even the fact that he gets paid $40 mill to play in a stadium that our tax money paid for).
Somehow we get some sort of glee out of watching these failures. Of course it's easier to just blame the individual 100% (yes he did wrong), but what circumstances outside of these athletes control contribute to their "stupidity"? I think that's a far more interesting thing to look at and critique rather than laugh at some "idiot" with our middle-upper class ideals and note how we would have easily been able to live off that money for the rest of our lives. What the hell do we know about putting our bodies on the line to play a game, and get paid money to do it? What type of lifestyle, schooling, and parenting did we have that would give us the slightest understanding of what would entice someone to blow through all of their money like that?
This is largely a social class thing and I'm sure in 10-15 years we'll have a thread about the situation or someone from jersey shore who now has money left and we'll have the same damn discussion. I guess I don't get any pleasure from watching others "stupidity", because that is at least one (and his child's) life that is destroyed because neoliberal capitalism sucks.
i take it when i deserve it but super al is a neoliberal capitalist, and that is one thing i am not. u gotta get like a karl marx thing for when i get in this mood...or a howard zinn, noam chomsky, henry giroux, peter mclaren pic.
I'm not making an excuse for this particular person.
This is exactly what you are doing.
You blame the education system, but this is a person who received a full ride scholarship. And surely received loads of prudent financial advise. Come on. Be serious.
And like pjhawks said, the politicians or teachers or whoever aren't the ones turning inner city schools into war zones.
I have not made an excuse for Chris M. on this thread he surely screwed up and pissed away his money. I don't know what his particular situation was...maybe he grew up upper class with plenty of options, a great elementary, middle, and high school education with great parents and just fucked up because he got caught up in stuff. At the same time, politicians and businesspeople are certainly contributing to why we have shitty schools, how can you not believe that? They are taking money and focus away from school for children, taking money and focus away from safety nets for their parents, and systematically destroying the inner city and rural areas for that matter. I don't think that's really even debatable. Plus by the time these kids get to wherever it is they are having their free ride their teachers aren't speaking to them in any way that captures their understandings of the world around them. If a majority of our athletes are growing up in this situation then surely this is a systemic problem. This is easily an example of the failures of late capitalism to provide for the many on all fronts (even the fact that he gets paid $40 mill to play in a stadium that our tax money paid for).
Somehow we get some sort of glee out of watching these failures. Of course it's easier to just blame the individual 100% (yes he did wrong), but what circumstances outside of these athletes control contribute to their "stupidity"? I think that's a far more interesting thing to look at and critique rather than laugh at some "idiot" with our middle-upper class ideals and note how we would have easily been able to live off that money for the rest of our lives. What the hell do we know about putting our bodies on the line to play a game, and get paid money to do it? What type of lifestyle, schooling, and parenting did we have that would give us the slightest understanding of what would entice someone to blow through all of their money like that?
This is largely a social class thing and I'm sure in 10-15 years we'll have a thread about the situation or someone from jersey shore who now has money left and we'll have the same damn discussion. I guess I don't get any pleasure from watching others "stupidity", because that is at least one (and his child's) life that is destroyed because neoliberal capitalism sucks.
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
Not that I side completely with RW, but how do you suggest we fix an educational system that offers no opportunities or value to the inner city?
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
Not that I side completely with RW, but how do you suggest we fix an educational system that offers no opportunities or value to the inner city?
it's a culture...and you need a culture change. but it starts with the parents, and they need to have the desire to make a better life for their kids. without that...forget about it
I think most people don't know what is like to come into a helluva lot of money ...
to have your dreams come true
most especially if you grew up with little
'kid in a candy store' syndrome and the fun has finally come
we can all think we would be very responsible but I wonder
and
you'd be surprised how fast money goes
I've lived this part .. again hindsight is 20/20
if I had 40 million now I'd be leaving it to my kids ... nothing I want anymore
I've learned it's not about what I want just what I need
I guess I have that cause I'm happy most days
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
Not that I side completely with RW, but how do you suggest we fix an educational system that offers no opportunities or value to the inner city?
it's a culture...and you need a culture change. but it starts with the parents, and they need to have the desire to make a better life for their kids. without that...forget about it
I agree completely, but how do you fix that culture? I see it as a generational fix that comes from better education and more opportunities for these kids which will then be passed down. Probably a bit of a dream but I don't see any other way. America doesn't build shit like we used to and the only decent paying jobs for these people will come trough education and opportunities.
Regarding fixing the education system, beats me, but I think it has to start with teachers. I don't want to offend anyone here but all my friends who went to school to become teachers were the biggest idiots in the bunch and pretty much did it for a steady job and summers off. I also think teachers need to have a better review processs and not base salary and such off of tenure. Add a little motivation.
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
Not that I side completely with RW, but how do you suggest we fix an educational system that offers no opportunities or value to the inner city?
1) have to separate out those kids who have no interest in learning from those who are there to learn. the bad
kids are running and ruining the asylum for those that aren't
1a) change the laws so 18 is no longer the 'adult' age for criminal charges. move it down to about 14-16 so
violent teens arent given a pass because of their age. having violent offenders in public schools
because they can't be denied an education hurts the rest of the students - see below for what to do
with those type of kids.
1b) instead of forcing those criminal types back into the public schools have alternative discipline type
schools for those kids, allowing for regular students a better educational opportunity. there is a court- adjudicated high school in the area where i work in suburban philly that does great things with kids
who have had issues with the law and truancy. Glen Mills High School is even allowed to compete for
Pennsylvania state titles in sports, has it's own run golf course that kids at the school can work at and
learn skills, and is bascially a boot camp for bad kids. they are also the best behaved kids at hs
sporting events i've seen them at. it works. more schools like this.
1c) have programs where the best students in those districts can be chosen to go to different high schools
even into suburban districts. maybe even into housing as well. and yes this is busing and takes us
back to the 60s or so but again it's better to separate those that want to learn from those that don't
1d) have specialized schools for those with certain skills. math type schools for those with a natural gift
for math, science schools, etc. - putting kids with the same interests and skills together with the
same type of students. hell i think this should be more done in even good school districts
2) change what is taught and how it is taught. education needs to be more real world friendly. moving kids
along and teaching them geometry when they are reading at a 5th grade level does no one any good. we
need to teach living skills and work skills. have programs where as kids get older give them co-ops and
work experience instead of sitting in a classroom all day
3) limit the welfare roles. this one is probably the trickiest because i'm not sure what can be done about it. i
am not against welfare per se' because many people need it for the right reasons but having kids growing
up in that environment of dependency is not a good thing.
4) get rid of no-child left behind. i'm not a teacher but the teachers i know, including family members, i am
told that this has done way more harm than good. having certain limits, goals and incentives for all
schools on the same level is just a dumb policy. and having funding based on said testing has lead to
cheating from many school districts to ensure the funding stays the same or increases
5) break the teachers unions. i know i'll probably take heat for this one but the teachers unions are hurting
education and tax payers. it's almost impossible to fire teachers, even bad ones, once they get tenure.
they want raises even in bad economic times (current philadelphia area catholic school teachers are on
strike and want 14% in raises (if you believe the archdiocese) over the next 4 years...in this fucking
economy...really????), unlimited job safety (again philly catholic school teachers unions want no layoffs EVEN
if schools closed which some will in the next few years, and they are against part time teachers, even for
curriculum for things like latin so they want latin teachers to teach 2 classes a day but be paid full
time...umm ok), and continued payments into their pensions (an archaic system in my opinion, let teachers
and government workers fund their own retirement's like the rest of society now does).
that's just a few thoughts...(man i hope work picks up soon because i got too much time during the days lately to be writing these long-winded posts)
edit: sorry for the odd indents and such. i tried indenting at the right spots and it changed it around. then i took the indents out and this is how it came out...oh well :oops:
I have not made an excuse for Chris M. on this thread he surely screwed up and pissed away his money. I don't know what his particular situation was...maybe he grew up upper class with plenty of options, a great elementary, middle, and high school education with great parents and just fucked up because he got caught up in stuff. At the same time, politicians and businesspeople are certainly contributing to why we have shitty schools, how can you not believe that? They are taking money and focus away from school for children, taking money and focus away from safety nets for their parents, and systematically destroying the inner city and rural areas for that matter. I don't think that's really even debatable. Plus by the time these kids get to wherever it is they are having their free ride their teachers aren't speaking to them in any way that captures their understandings of the world around them. If a majority of our athletes are growing up in this situation then surely this is a systemic problem. This is easily an example of the failures of late capitalism to provide for the many on all fronts (even the fact that he gets paid $40 mill to play in a stadium that our tax money paid for).
Somehow we get some sort of glee out of watching these failures. Of course it's easier to just blame the individual 100% (yes he did wrong), but what circumstances outside of these athletes control contribute to their "stupidity"? I think that's a far more interesting thing to look at and critique rather than laugh at some "idiot" with our middle-upper class ideals and note how we would have easily been able to live off that money for the rest of our lives. What the hell do we know about putting our bodies on the line to play a game, and get paid money to do it? What type of lifestyle, schooling, and parenting did we have that would give us the slightest understanding of what would entice someone to blow through all of their money like that?
This is largely a social class thing and I'm sure in 10-15 years we'll have a thread about the situation or someone from jersey shore who now has money left and we'll have the same damn discussion. I guess I don't get any pleasure from watching others "stupidity", because that is at least one (and his child's) life that is destroyed because neoliberal capitalism sucks.
I've just read through this thread and sorry to pick on you, but you seem be incredibly inconsistent, and trying to turn a simple point into an intellectual debate. Since you started down the road and clearly wanted the debate, why do you think throwing money at schools will solve inner city schools problems? Don't you think that's similar to what happened with this player? Did giving this dude 40 million solve anything? Or did he piss it all down the drain?
P.S. Capitalism, if used wisely, is a great thing...and is the reason you are typing/reading right now.
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
Not that I side completely with RW, but how do you suggest we fix an educational system that offers no opportunities or value to the inner city?
1) have to separate out those kids who have no interest in learning from those who are there to learn. the bad
kids are running and ruining the asylum for those that aren't
1a) change the laws so 18 is no longer the 'adult' age for criminal charges. move it down to about 14-16 so
violent teens arent given a pass because of their age. having violent offenders in public schools
because they can't be denied an education hurts the rest of the students - see below for what to do
with those type of kids.
1b) instead of forcing those criminal types back into the public schools have alternative discipline type
schools for those kids, allowing for regular students a better educational opportunity. there is a court- adjudicated high school in the area where i work in suburban philly that does great things with kids
who have had issues with the law and truancy. Glen Mills High School is even allowed to compete for
Pennsylvania state titles in sports, has it's own run golf course that kids at the school can work at and
learn skills, and is bascially a boot camp for bad kids. they are also the best behaved kids at hs
sporting events i've seen them at. it works. more schools like this.
1c) have programs where the best students in those districts can be chosen to go to different high schools
even into suburban districts. maybe even into housing as well. and yes this is busing and takes us
back to the 60s or so but again it's better to separate those that want to learn from those that don't
1d) have specialized schools for those with certain skills. math type schools for those with a natural gift
for math, science schools, etc. - putting kids with the same interests and skills together with the
same type of students. hell i think this should be more done in even good school districts
2) change what is taught and how it is taught. education needs to be more real world friendly. moving kids
along and teaching them geometry when they are reading at a 5th grade level does no one any good. we
need to teach living skills and work skills. have programs where as kids get older give them co-ops and
work experience instead of sitting in a classroom all day
3) limit the welfare roles. this one is probably the trickiest because i'm not sure what can be done about it. i
am not against welfare per se' because many people need it for the right reasons but having kids growing
up in that environment of dependency is not a good thing.
4) get rid of no-child left behind. i'm not a teacher but the teachers i know, including family members, i am
told that this has done way more harm than good. having certain limits, goals and incentives for all
schools on the same level is just a dumb policy. and having funding based on said testing has lead to
cheating from many school districts to ensure the funding stays the same or increases
5) break the teachers unions. i know i'll probably take heat for this one but the teachers unions are hurting
education and tax payers. it's almost impossible to fire teachers, even bad ones, once they get tenure.
they want raises even in bad economic times (current philadelphia area catholic school teachers are on
strike and want 14% in raises (if you believe the archdiocese) over the next 4 years...in this fucking
economy...really????), unlimited job safety (again philly catholic school teachers unions want no layoffs EVEN
if schools closed which some will in the next few years, and they are against part time teachers, even for
curriculum for things like latin so they want latin teachers to teach 2 classes a day but be paid full
time...umm ok), and continued payments into their pensions (an archaic system in my opinion, let teachers
and government workers fund their own retirement's like the rest of society now does).
that's just a few thoughts...(man i hope work picks up soon because i got too much time during the days lately to be writing these long-winded posts)
edit: sorry for the odd indents and such. i tried indenting at the right spots and it changed it around. then i took the indents out and this is how it came out...oh well :oops:
I don't have time right now to go point by point but I will take a a better look and respond since it's well thought out. My two inital thoughts are that this costs a lot of money (perhaps spent in the right places) and I have first hand experience with weeding out kids and sending them to speciality schools that I will share. I wasn't the best kid, pretty awful actually, and my school wanted to send me to a vocational school, my parents refused and I turned out pretty damn well if I say so myself.
I don't have time right now to go point by point but I will take a a better look and respond since it's well thought out. My two inital thoughts are that this costs a lot of money (perhaps spent in the right places) and I have first hand experience with weeding out kids and sending them to speciality schools that I will share. I wasn't the best kid, pretty awful actually, and my school wanted to send me to a vocational school, my parents refused and I turned out pretty damn well if I say so myself.
haha ok cool i'd love to hear your personal story on here to give me more perspective. i am open that my ideas may be off but i at least know the current way is not working.
first and foremost ... CM is ultimately responsible for his decisions that has led him to where he is now ...
having said that - society set him up for failure ... the social construct dictates that one must earn money for the sole purpose of consumption of things that really don't mean shit ... big screen tvs, gas-guzzling cars, massive homes, etc ...
CM lived beyond his means but so do many americans ... how many americans actually are debt free now? ... the country itself is in massive debt ... it's the nature of the beast ... the only difference with CM is that he had more money to play with ... so, instead of being a guy who spent $400k for a house he couldn't really afford ... he bought bigger ones ...
and education is most definitely a component of all this ... as a perceived nation of riches - it should be embarrassing to consistently rank so low amongst developed nations in education ... sure, if you have money ... you could get the best education the world has to offer but if your poor ... you have been left behind ...
Comments
Somehow we get some sort of glee out of watching these failures. Of course it's easier to just blame the individual 100% (yes he did wrong), but what circumstances outside of these athletes control contribute to their "stupidity"? I think that's a far more interesting thing to look at and critique rather than laugh at some "idiot" with our middle-upper class ideals and note how we would have easily been able to live off that money for the rest of our lives. What the hell do we know about putting our bodies on the line to play a game, and get paid money to do it? What type of lifestyle, schooling, and parenting did we have that would give us the slightest understanding of what would entice someone to blow through all of their money like that?
This is largely a social class thing and I'm sure in 10-15 years we'll have a thread about the situation or someone from jersey shore who now has money left and we'll have the same damn discussion. I guess I don't get any pleasure from watching others "stupidity", because that is at least one (and his child's) life that is destroyed because neoliberal capitalism sucks.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budge ... index.html
education funding from the Department of Education has gone from $14 million in 1980 to over $77 million today while the quality of education has decreased. how much money can we keep throwing to fix a dam that is leaking in too many places? money or lack there-of that is going to schools is not the issue. spending said money unwisely and a culture that education is not important to many in the inner cities is the root cause, not the dollar amounts.
Not that I side completely with RW, but how do you suggest we fix an educational system that offers no opportunities or value to the inner city?
it's a culture...and you need a culture change. but it starts with the parents, and they need to have the desire to make a better life for their kids. without that...forget about it
to have your dreams come true
most especially if you grew up with little
'kid in a candy store' syndrome and the fun has finally come
we can all think we would be very responsible but I wonder
and
you'd be surprised how fast money goes
I've lived this part .. again hindsight is 20/20
if I had 40 million now I'd be leaving it to my kids ... nothing I want anymore
I've learned it's not about what I want just what I need
I guess I have that cause I'm happy most days
I agree completely, but how do you fix that culture? I see it as a generational fix that comes from better education and more opportunities for these kids which will then be passed down. Probably a bit of a dream but I don't see any other way. America doesn't build shit like we used to and the only decent paying jobs for these people will come trough education and opportunities.
Regarding fixing the education system, beats me, but I think it has to start with teachers. I don't want to offend anyone here but all my friends who went to school to become teachers were the biggest idiots in the bunch and pretty much did it for a steady job and summers off. I also think teachers need to have a better review processs and not base salary and such off of tenure. Add a little motivation.
1) have to separate out those kids who have no interest in learning from those who are there to learn. the bad
kids are running and ruining the asylum for those that aren't
1a) change the laws so 18 is no longer the 'adult' age for criminal charges. move it down to about 14-16 so
violent teens arent given a pass because of their age. having violent offenders in public schools
because they can't be denied an education hurts the rest of the students - see below for what to do
with those type of kids.
1b) instead of forcing those criminal types back into the public schools have alternative discipline type
schools for those kids, allowing for regular students a better educational opportunity. there is a court- adjudicated high school in the area where i work in suburban philly that does great things with kids
who have had issues with the law and truancy. Glen Mills High School is even allowed to compete for
Pennsylvania state titles in sports, has it's own run golf course that kids at the school can work at and
learn skills, and is bascially a boot camp for bad kids. they are also the best behaved kids at hs
sporting events i've seen them at. it works. more schools like this.
1c) have programs where the best students in those districts can be chosen to go to different high schools
even into suburban districts. maybe even into housing as well. and yes this is busing and takes us
back to the 60s or so but again it's better to separate those that want to learn from those that don't
1d) have specialized schools for those with certain skills. math type schools for those with a natural gift
for math, science schools, etc. - putting kids with the same interests and skills together with the
same type of students. hell i think this should be more done in even good school districts
2) change what is taught and how it is taught. education needs to be more real world friendly. moving kids
along and teaching them geometry when they are reading at a 5th grade level does no one any good. we
need to teach living skills and work skills. have programs where as kids get older give them co-ops and
work experience instead of sitting in a classroom all day
3) limit the welfare roles. this one is probably the trickiest because i'm not sure what can be done about it. i
am not against welfare per se' because many people need it for the right reasons but having kids growing
up in that environment of dependency is not a good thing.
4) get rid of no-child left behind. i'm not a teacher but the teachers i know, including family members, i am
told that this has done way more harm than good. having certain limits, goals and incentives for all
schools on the same level is just a dumb policy. and having funding based on said testing has lead to
cheating from many school districts to ensure the funding stays the same or increases
5) break the teachers unions. i know i'll probably take heat for this one but the teachers unions are hurting
education and tax payers. it's almost impossible to fire teachers, even bad ones, once they get tenure.
they want raises even in bad economic times (current philadelphia area catholic school teachers are on
strike and want 14% in raises (if you believe the archdiocese) over the next 4 years...in this fucking
economy...really????), unlimited job safety (again philly catholic school teachers unions want no layoffs EVEN
if schools closed which some will in the next few years, and they are against part time teachers, even for
curriculum for things like latin so they want latin teachers to teach 2 classes a day but be paid full
time...umm ok), and continued payments into their pensions (an archaic system in my opinion, let teachers
and government workers fund their own retirement's like the rest of society now does).
that's just a few thoughts...(man i hope work picks up soon because i got too much time during the days lately to be writing these long-winded posts)
edit: sorry for the odd indents and such. i tried indenting at the right spots and it changed it around. then i took the indents out and this is how it came out...oh well :oops:
ha ha... this was so well placed. ha ha.
<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28998869"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28998869" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href=" - In the Fire (demo)</a> by <a href="
your juggler prides himself on his comedic timing.
I've just read through this thread and sorry to pick on you, but you seem be incredibly inconsistent, and trying to turn a simple point into an intellectual debate. Since you started down the road and clearly wanted the debate, why do you think throwing money at schools will solve inner city schools problems? Don't you think that's similar to what happened with this player? Did giving this dude 40 million solve anything? Or did he piss it all down the drain?
P.S. Capitalism, if used wisely, is a great thing...and is the reason you are typing/reading right now.
<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28998869"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28998869" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href=" - In the Fire (demo)</a> by <a href="
I don't have time right now to go point by point but I will take a a better look and respond since it's well thought out. My two inital thoughts are that this costs a lot of money (perhaps spent in the right places) and I have first hand experience with weeding out kids and sending them to speciality schools that I will share. I wasn't the best kid, pretty awful actually, and my school wanted to send me to a vocational school, my parents refused and I turned out pretty damn well if I say so myself.
haha ok cool i'd love to hear your personal story on here to give me more perspective. i am open that my ideas may be off but i at least know the current way is not working.
having said that - society set him up for failure ... the social construct dictates that one must earn money for the sole purpose of consumption of things that really don't mean shit ... big screen tvs, gas-guzzling cars, massive homes, etc ...
CM lived beyond his means but so do many americans ... how many americans actually are debt free now? ... the country itself is in massive debt ... it's the nature of the beast ... the only difference with CM is that he had more money to play with ... so, instead of being a guy who spent $400k for a house he couldn't really afford ... he bought bigger ones ...
and education is most definitely a component of all this ... as a perceived nation of riches - it should be embarrassing to consistently rank so low amongst developed nations in education ... sure, if you have money ... you could get the best education the world has to offer but if your poor ... you have been left behind ...