Entry 14: Social Class and Education

Bettie's article had an insight I didn't really think about

in my own life until recently. I always considered myself middle-class,

which is stupid if I consider pretty much every aspect of my life, until

last year. In a journalism class, there was a graph showing

just exactly what incomes accounted for middle-class and, as

stupid as I am with information like this, I knew my family's

income was well above the given number. After that, I

was very curious about my family's financial breakdown,

so I started asking my parents a lot of questions. I learned my dad

makes more money than I thought he did, and when my parents always

tell me I'm "lucky," which I undoubtably am, it really translated more

to "you're more upper-middle-class." 

It was really interesting to me how the girls learned to somewhat

define their own class standing. I thought it was also interesting how

different girls related to their friends class standing. Some girls

didn't perceive their having to work harder than their friends

as an innate difference; however, with Liz and Amanda,

it was intriguing to see Liz's angst toward Amanda

when it came to the difference in their levels of effort, and how Amanda

was able to slack off more. I feel like that's kind of a relatable issue regardless

of class...I know a variety of people who can not study at all and come

out with a grade they're content with, whether it be an A or a D. I do

see how the attachment between class is made, though. I've never

really made class connections in schoolwork, but I definitely have in other

regions. 

For example, one of my best friends is really wealthy, and he gets

a pretty hefty allowance each month. And he usually goes over his allowance or

is near $50 or below by the end of the month. I get really agitated

when I try to ask how he spends that much money, but then

I end up feeling really guilty because although my parents don't really

buy me things, pay for a lot of my food, or pay for gas, 

they virtually pay for everything else in college. In my experience,

I think there's going to be some form of class jealousy anyway you 

slice it. Even though I'm very well-off, there are things I 

get jealous of that people even more well-off have. 

Likewise, other class ranks are going to be jealous of something

a rank "above" them obtains. 

This really isn't relative, but this is all I could think about.