I have been thinking about it a lot. I don’t necessarily know what school of thought it may fit into to, but does that matter? I am fairly confident in my opinions and I feel that it is more important to know yourself and what you think than to shape them to fit into a box that others have defined. So yes, I do not believe that anything or anyone should have that much money. It just doesn’t make sense. According to Forbes Magazine, President Aoun makes over $3,000,000 a year. What does he do to deserve that much? What does he do with that much money? I, for one, am certainly not feeling great about my tuition going towards making him a millionaire. If he was a big-time philanthropist and invested his money in development of the Boston area (especially considering the intense gentrification Northeastern has done of our area of the city) or literally anything else, I would feel better about it. But from what I can find, he doesn’t do any of that. This is certainly not the rule, but most rich people just use their money to get more rich. Aoun lives in a nice house in a nice part of Boston all because he is “robot-proofing” us, the students who have put him there. And while I respect President Aoun and all he has done to help our school, I just don’t think it’s fair. I don’t claim to be an economist in any way or, frankly, have a basic understanding of most things in the world, but I know that there is an incredible gap between the rich and poor in this world and practices like this only stand to widen that gap.
Sadly, I don’t have a three-pronged, comprehensive, multi-step plan to fix this. I wish I did, but the truth is that I just don’t know enough yet to try and fix it. But what I do have is a vote and a voice to put people in power that can. I also have a schedule that puts me in classes that will help me learn how to change these institutions and a spot at a good university that gives me opportunities to learn and work with people that can teach me how to do what I want to do. I have what my mom calls “a revolutionary streak” and a whole lot of energy that needs to go somewhere. I have a list of goals that could potentially involve running for office and one day, making sure that this gap is no longer quite so large. In summary, I don’t believe that any one person needs, deserves, or should have that much wealth. I understand that it is not an opinion that everyone holds but I do know that I want to work towards dismantling a system that prioritizes some while pushing down others at any cost.
Maya
No comments:
Post a Comment