What Priveleges Do I have?
Coming soon: My much-delayed self-evaluation of the talk on Quakerism I gave at 15th Street Meetinghouse on October 10th. Meanwhile: here's this:
Jeanne, of the blog Social Class and Quakers has invited me to participate in an exercise, along with other bloggers. Each participant is to paste a series of statements from this post on Jeanne's blog into her or his own blog, bolding the ones that apply to herself/himself. Then we are to post a comment on Jeanne's original post saying that we did so and linking to our version. The statements all have some bearing on what one's "social class" is thought to be. In my case, I think they also say something about the generation in which I was born. Kids having their own tv's in their rooms, for example, was pretty much unheard of when I was in high school, whether you were dirt poor or fabulously wealthy, and as far as I know there was no such thing as an IRA back then.
The exercise sounds interesting so I've decided to participate. The statements in question follow. (BTW, for some reason this is called a "pseudo-meme". I have no idea what that means.)
Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home(we sure did after I started buying them. They were almost exclusively paperbacks.
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively (I guess so: to the extent that there even are any people who dress and talk like me to be portrayed)
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp (once. A one-week Bible-themed camp)
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels (only one family vacation that I recall: that involved an automobile trip to an uncle's home in Alabama. We stayed with the uncle's family. I don't recall where we slept on the way down. I was about four years old).
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house (yes, if by "house" you mean "mobile home")
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home (mobile home. They owned title to it though it was mortgaged)
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.
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Jeanne, of the blog Social Class and Quakers has invited me to participate in an exercise, along with other bloggers. Each participant is to paste a series of statements from this post on Jeanne's blog into her or his own blog, bolding the ones that apply to herself/himself. Then we are to post a comment on Jeanne's original post saying that we did so and linking to our version. The statements all have some bearing on what one's "social class" is thought to be. In my case, I think they also say something about the generation in which I was born. Kids having their own tv's in their rooms, for example, was pretty much unheard of when I was in high school, whether you were dirt poor or fabulously wealthy, and as far as I know there was no such thing as an IRA back then.
The exercise sounds interesting so I've decided to participate. The statements in question follow. (BTW, for some reason this is called a "pseudo-meme". I have no idea what that means.)
Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home(we sure did after I started buying them. They were almost exclusively paperbacks.
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively (I guess so: to the extent that there even are any people who dress and talk like me to be portrayed)
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp (once. A one-week Bible-themed camp)
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels (only one family vacation that I recall: that involved an automobile trip to an uncle's home in Alabama. We stayed with the uncle's family. I don't recall where we slept on the way down. I was about four years old).
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house (yes, if by "house" you mean "mobile home")
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home (mobile home. They owned title to it though it was mortgaged)
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.
