Yep in the IRA -- Funnily enough, that particular kind of plan didn't exist until I was at university!
Re the lessons, I think it's whether one had, e.g., music AND ballet AND riding AND martial arts kind of thing. The SAT/ACT are the standardized exams required by most US colleges/universities as part of the qualification program. Prep courses became more prevalent in the 1980s, I think.
In the case of paying for uni, I don't know how to read that -- I see Europeans as having a great privilege in that university education for my peers was free -- but not everybody can go. OTOH, in the US, pretty much everybody can go, but it's not free. Me, I had lots of government money because I am old enough that there were grants for people of my income level. That and I worked 30 hours a week.
I do think it's also generational as much as geographical -- very few people I knew growing up had TVs in their rooms, for example -- if people had a second TV, it was often in the parents' room or in a separate 'family room.' Many of my friends were much better off financially than we were, but it just wasn't done.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-03 12:16 pm (UTC)Re the lessons, I think it's whether one had, e.g., music AND ballet AND riding AND martial arts kind of thing. The SAT/ACT are the standardized exams required by most US colleges/universities as part of the qualification program. Prep courses became more prevalent in the 1980s, I think.
In the case of paying for uni, I don't know how to read that -- I see Europeans as having a great privilege in that university education for my peers was free -- but not everybody can go. OTOH, in the US, pretty much everybody can go, but it's not free. Me, I had lots of government money because I am old enough that there were grants for people of my income level. That and I worked 30 hours a week.
I do think it's also generational as much as geographical -- very few people I knew growing up had TVs in their rooms, for example -- if people had a second TV, it was often in the parents' room or in a separate 'family room.' Many of my friends were much better off financially than we were, but it just wasn't done.