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the ubiquitous privilege meme
(This is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, and Stacy Ploskonka at Indiana State University (http://wbarratt.indstate.edu/socialclass/social_class_on_campus.htm). If you participate in this meme, please acknowledge their copyright.)
Bold the items that apply to you (based on what I perceive to be the intent of the meme, I'm answering as I would have my first year of college):
Your father went to college
Your father finished college
Your mother went to college
Your mother finished college
You have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
You were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Mind you, I attended a private school, and most of my teachers were liberal arts majors married to attorneys, physicians, etc. So while I identified with the same class stratum as my teachers, my teachers probably identified with a higher class stratum than many in their profession.
If you had a computer at home
If you had your own computer at home
If you had more than 50 books at home
If you had more than 500 books at home
If were read children's books by a parent
If you ever had lessons of any kind
If you had more than two kinds of lessons
If the people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
If you had a credit card with your name on it
My parents got me one when I left for college, for emergencies only -- but the bills came to me, so I wound up using it more than they suspected.
If you have less than $5000 in student loans
If you have no student loans
i would say this is one of the biggest things my parents did for me: They paid for my college education. (I worked, yeah, but my pay only had to cover personal items like toiletries and clothingand takeout Chinese.) Knowing I would graduate with no debt meant I could study what I loved, not what would ensure a high starting salary.
If you went to a private high school
If you went to summer camp
Girl scout camp, once.
If you had a private tutor
If you have been to Europe
If your family vacations involved staying at hotels
I'd say 80 percent of our vacations were to visit relatives, but if we went anywhere else -- and we did occasionally -- we stayed in hotels.
If all of your clothing has been newand bought at the mall
New clothes, yes, but my mom was not a mall shopper. She bought most of our clothes at Woodward & Lothrop, which she often said was higher end than Hechts but not as upscale as Garfinckels. I think all three department stores are now defunct. And actually, I did have some second-hand items (school uniforms, especially), but they did not make up the majority of my wardrobe.
If your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
Heh. I didn't have a car until I was in my mid-30s. The family had one car, which my mom drove; the rest of us took public transportation.
If there was original art in your house
If you had a phone in your room
If you lived in a single family house
If your parent own their own house or apartment
If you had your own room
If you participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
If you had your own cell phone in High School
Cell phones did not exist when I was in high school!
If you had your own TV in your room in High School
If you opened a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
If you have ever flown anywhere on a commercial airline
If you ever went on a cruise with your family
If your parents took you to museums and art galleries
If you were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.
My mom is actually pretty old-school about saving on utilities -- the house was always at 65, and she was so reliable about turning off all the lights to any room we weren't in that my brother took to calling her "mole woman." But she's also pretty old-school about not talking about money.
In retrospect, I know some times were harder than others -- we ate tuna casserole all the time some years, and never in others -- but my mother would never, ever talk to me about family finances, much less cite dollar figures for bills. I have no idea what my dad's salary was; I asked once, probably in 6th or 7th grade, and my parents told me they couldn't think of any good reason for me to know that.
Nowadays I check the math on my mom's tax returns for her, but I still couldn't tell you what she makes. It's so ingrained that I shouldn't know that I forget as soon as I'm done with the arithmetic.
Bold the items that apply to you (based on what I perceive to be the intent of the meme, I'm answering as I would have my first year of college):
Your father went to college
Your father finished college
Your mother went to college
Your mother finished college
You have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
You were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Mind you, I attended a private school, and most of my teachers were liberal arts majors married to attorneys, physicians, etc. So while I identified with the same class stratum as my teachers, my teachers probably identified with a higher class stratum than many in their profession.
If you had a computer at home
If you had your own computer at home
If you had more than 50 books at home
If you had more than 500 books at home
If were read children's books by a parent
If you ever had lessons of any kind
If you had more than two kinds of lessons
If the people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
If you had a credit card with your name on it
My parents got me one when I left for college, for emergencies only -- but the bills came to me, so I wound up using it more than they suspected.
If you have less than $5000 in student loans
If you have no student loans
i would say this is one of the biggest things my parents did for me: They paid for my college education. (I worked, yeah, but my pay only had to cover personal items like toiletries and clothingand takeout Chinese.) Knowing I would graduate with no debt meant I could study what I loved, not what would ensure a high starting salary.
If you went to a private high school
If you went to summer camp
Girl scout camp, once.
If you had a private tutor
If you have been to Europe
If your family vacations involved staying at hotels
I'd say 80 percent of our vacations were to visit relatives, but if we went anywhere else -- and we did occasionally -- we stayed in hotels.
If all of your clothing has been new
New clothes, yes, but my mom was not a mall shopper. She bought most of our clothes at Woodward & Lothrop, which she often said was higher end than Hechts but not as upscale as Garfinckels. I think all three department stores are now defunct. And actually, I did have some second-hand items (school uniforms, especially), but they did not make up the majority of my wardrobe.
If your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
Heh. I didn't have a car until I was in my mid-30s. The family had one car, which my mom drove; the rest of us took public transportation.
If there was original art in your house
If you had a phone in your room
If you lived in a single family house
If your parent own their own house or apartment
If you had your own room
If you participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
If you had your own cell phone in High School
Cell phones did not exist when I was in high school!
If you had your own TV in your room in High School
If you opened a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
If you have ever flown anywhere on a commercial airline
If you ever went on a cruise with your family
If your parents took you to museums and art galleries
If you were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.
My mom is actually pretty old-school about saving on utilities -- the house was always at 65, and she was so reliable about turning off all the lights to any room we weren't in that my brother took to calling her "mole woman." But she's also pretty old-school about not talking about money.
In retrospect, I know some times were harder than others -- we ate tuna casserole all the time some years, and never in others -- but my mother would never, ever talk to me about family finances, much less cite dollar figures for bills. I have no idea what my dad's salary was; I asked once, probably in 6th or 7th grade, and my parents told me they couldn't think of any good reason for me to know that.
Nowadays I check the math on my mom's tax returns for her, but I still couldn't tell you what she makes. It's so ingrained that I shouldn't know that I forget as soon as I'm done with the arithmetic.