Next year I will be starting college, and after that my future is all up in the air. My plan is to hopefully get a job right after graduating, slowly move up within the company and become CEO and live the high life. Chances of that happening? slim to none.
I'm guessing my future might go a little something like this: Graduate college, move back in with the parents, get a job, and stay at that for the rest of my life, or at least until retirement. It's not my dream route, but it's not entirely made up either, it is the route that both my parents followed once they graduated college. It's not because I have grown up watching their lives and thinking "I wanna be just like that some day" It is because they are providing to me the same opportunies they were provided when they were my age.
Both my parents come from upper middle class families, and were able to attend big10 schools and graduate and get jobs that they have basically stuck with since then. It is rare that someone will move up a class from their parents, I wish it would be me, but I'm going to have to win the lottery if i want that to happen..
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
whole wheat bread and labels
I have been in the upper middle class my entire life, but I never realized my social class could affect the food I like, until now. Because my parents had choices on what kind of food to feed me while I was growing up, they went for the more expensive whole wheat bread and also lactose free milk (although it wasn't a choice for them- they are lactose intolerant).
When I first went to kindergarten and had a carton of milk and a slice of wonder bread with my lunch. My parents told me that I had refused to eat and drink it because I didn't like the way it tasted. I now realize it was because my parents raised me drinking lactose intolerant milk and whole what bread that I had only developed a taste for that.
Not only has the upper middle class lifestyle conditioned me to only like certain foods, but it has also condtioned me to only like certain clothes and things. For example, a simple wallet. I got a wallet from limited too when I was in grade school. My mom got it for me to put my allowance in (my whole $5 a week). My friend saw my wallet and asked if she could get one, so her mom told her to save up her allowance and then took her to target, to buy one that looked so similar to mine that the only difference was that her's didn't say limited too on the front. Even though they were no different, I wanted to get the one from limited too just because it was from there. I have also noticed this in my older years as well. I went shopping in florida with my mom at this insane mall in hollywood. We went into the juicy store and I got a green zip up. I probably could have gottten that zip up anywhere else for less, but I got the juicy one instead.
Through the video and discussions we have had, I truly feel like my class has affected me as a person.
When I first went to kindergarten and had a carton of milk and a slice of wonder bread with my lunch. My parents told me that I had refused to eat and drink it because I didn't like the way it tasted. I now realize it was because my parents raised me drinking lactose intolerant milk and whole what bread that I had only developed a taste for that.
Not only has the upper middle class lifestyle conditioned me to only like certain foods, but it has also condtioned me to only like certain clothes and things. For example, a simple wallet. I got a wallet from limited too when I was in grade school. My mom got it for me to put my allowance in (my whole $5 a week). My friend saw my wallet and asked if she could get one, so her mom told her to save up her allowance and then took her to target, to buy one that looked so similar to mine that the only difference was that her's didn't say limited too on the front. Even though they were no different, I wanted to get the one from limited too just because it was from there. I have also noticed this in my older years as well. I went shopping in florida with my mom at this insane mall in hollywood. We went into the juicy store and I got a green zip up. I probably could have gottten that zip up anywhere else for less, but I got the juicy one instead.
Through the video and discussions we have had, I truly feel like my class has affected me as a person.
Prisons and Justice
(sal, sorry I accidently pressed save instead of publish...)
After viewing the "30 Days in Prison" video as well as reading "Courtroom 302" I never felt so disgusted at our country. We pride ourselves as being the land of the free, yeah of slaves maybe- but most definetly not of prisoners. The way our prision systems work is like a revolving door. People go to jail all the time for theft and drug crimes, and when they've rightfully served their time their just thrown back into the exact same world they started in. They usually have trouble finding a job or getting education so they resort back to crime, and guess where they end up? back in jail. I believe that their should be reform for prisons in America, but they go overlooked. Why? mainly because we (mostly meaning I) grew up in an area where people are arrested then pay bail and get out of it. I only knew of criminals as the thugs who have tattoos covering their whole bodies and shoot people for fun on the weekends. After learning about prisons and the penal system, I almost feel bad for the criminals- even if they did go against the law. They have everything working against them and thats why they keep ending up back in prison. It's sad but true, and if the prisons cared, they would set up ex convicts with a job in a semi good area wherre they could actually turn their life around.
After viewing the "30 Days in Prison" video as well as reading "Courtroom 302" I never felt so disgusted at our country. We pride ourselves as being the land of the free, yeah of slaves maybe- but most definetly not of prisoners. The way our prision systems work is like a revolving door. People go to jail all the time for theft and drug crimes, and when they've rightfully served their time their just thrown back into the exact same world they started in. They usually have trouble finding a job or getting education so they resort back to crime, and guess where they end up? back in jail. I believe that their should be reform for prisons in America, but they go overlooked. Why? mainly because we (mostly meaning I) grew up in an area where people are arrested then pay bail and get out of it. I only knew of criminals as the thugs who have tattoos covering their whole bodies and shoot people for fun on the weekends. After learning about prisons and the penal system, I almost feel bad for the criminals- even if they did go against the law. They have everything working against them and thats why they keep ending up back in prison. It's sad but true, and if the prisons cared, they would set up ex convicts with a job in a semi good area wherre they could actually turn their life around.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Social Class and BMWs
After reading the article "Saints and Roughnecks", I related to the way society creates an 'image' for you by the social class you belong to. For example in the article the roughnecks were from lower class families and were often taunted by the police, involved in theft and violence, and were constantly told by their teachers they would get nowhere in life. On the other hand, the upper middle class saints were involved in crimes like underage drinking, some theft and drunk driving, but because they were from good families, generally excelled in school, and had the resources to stay out their town's visibility, they were told they would go places in life, and most of them did.
So How does this relate to me? I'm glad you asked....
This past summer I got a new car. I was sad to leave the car (a jeep)I learned to drive in and got my license in behind, but I was happy to be driving a car that got more than 12 mpg. My parents leased a brand new BMW for me. I pulled up to a friends house for a pool party and was greeted by this guy I had only met a few weeks earlier and he said "wow, i had no idea you were rich" I immediately shot down his comment explaining the whole situation.. my dad is an employee for BMW, and in june they sent out this special deal that employees could lease brand new BMWs for a reduced price every month. Everytime it got brought up that I had a BMW I felt the need to explain the whole situation. I didn't want to be defined by my car. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I don't like the image that it gives off. It screams "HEY IM RICH LOOK WHAT MY DADDY JUST BOUGHT ME" and I try to shy away from that as much as possible. I'm not "rich", both my parents have full time jobs, and I even work 3 days a week.
The image that your social class gives off may get you out of things (like the saints) or get you into things (like the roughnecks) but I find myself somewhere in between letting my social class image define me and making my own images define me, and I'm happy where I am :)
So How does this relate to me? I'm glad you asked....
This past summer I got a new car. I was sad to leave the car (a jeep)I learned to drive in and got my license in behind, but I was happy to be driving a car that got more than 12 mpg. My parents leased a brand new BMW for me. I pulled up to a friends house for a pool party and was greeted by this guy I had only met a few weeks earlier and he said "wow, i had no idea you were rich" I immediately shot down his comment explaining the whole situation.. my dad is an employee for BMW, and in june they sent out this special deal that employees could lease brand new BMWs for a reduced price every month. Everytime it got brought up that I had a BMW I felt the need to explain the whole situation. I didn't want to be defined by my car. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I don't like the image that it gives off. It screams "HEY IM RICH LOOK WHAT MY DADDY JUST BOUGHT ME" and I try to shy away from that as much as possible. I'm not "rich", both my parents have full time jobs, and I even work 3 days a week.
The image that your social class gives off may get you out of things (like the saints) or get you into things (like the roughnecks) but I find myself somewhere in between letting my social class image define me and making my own images define me, and I'm happy where I am :)
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