draft

Lilliana Carrillo

Walcher

Never Doubt Yourself

            It is funny how I am twenty years old, and this is the first time I am actually thinking of the social class my family and I belong to. When I was growing up, I remember having the five basic needs of life a home, food, clothes, healthcare, school, and sanitation. I also grew up with a loving and caring family that has always been there for me. My family is made up of my parents and two sisters making our home a place full of laugher and joy. However, now that I am thinking about the social class my family belongs to I am realizing that as an eight year old girl I did think of social class without even knowing. As an eight year old girl, I always asked my mom why my dad worked a ridiculous amount of hours. I would complain about seeing my dad only for an hour before I went to bed. I remember getting excited when it was the weekend because I would think I would spend more time with my dad, however, I would see him for the same amount of time because he also worked weekends. I remember my dad was not able to go to important events such as my graduations, family reunions, mass, recreational activities because of his job. During my years in elementary school, I had a hard time understanding why my dad thought work was more important than his family. Fortunately, when I started middle school I understood that my dad did love his family and the only reason why he was working a ridiculous amount of hours was to give his family a better lifestyle than what he had growing up. With this being said, social class is very important to society and most people unconsciously think of it. 

             As I was reading Americas Four Middle classes, I started thinking what middle class my family and I belong to. After giving it some thought, I realized that my family and I belong to the anxious middle class. The anxious middle class is neither affluent nor poor (Morin, pg. 8). People that belong to the anxious middle class have family incomes of 50,000 dollars or more, are employed full time, and are most likely homeowners (Morin, pg. 9). My parents are United States residents that came to the United States from Mexico seeking a better lifestyle. My sisters and I were born and raised in the United States. My parents were not able to go to college because in Mexico their families were very poor that would put their son and daughters to work at a very young age. After my parents got married, they became United State residents and decide to come to United States seeking a better lifestyle to start a family. My dad was very fortunate and currently is working full time at a factory that pays him fairly well he also puts in a lot of extra hours sometimes adding up to 50 hours a week. My mom has always been a stay home mom she was always taking care of her three girls and babysat to add to the family income. My family income has been around 55,000 dollars in a year and the family has always had health insurance. My father is a homeowner he finished paying the house my family and I currently live in around 15 years ago. These are the facts that made me make the choice that my family belongs to the anxious middle class.

            The type of social class one belongs to defines the person’s lifestyle. A person’s lifestyle is basically the choices he or she makes about how to live life.  My family and I try to live a life where we do not spend a lot of money on luxuries because we do not want to spend more money than what we have. Home amenities are bought at Meijer, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Menards. These businesses offer home amenities at great prices that allow my family to stay on our budget. We also love to go out to eat as a family to a restaurant once a week, which is usually on Sundays. Going out to eat as a family has always been a family tradition to have family bonding time and it’s nice being able to spend time with the family. The restaurants we visit every week are Olive Garden, Fridays, and Red Robin. I know my parents would like to take us out to eat more often, but they cannot because that would be exceeding my parents’ budget. I have always attended public school and education has always been very important. In the article The Burdens of Working –Class Youth, I can totally relate to Brandon because my parents told me what he was told when growing up education was the path to “the land of the working honey” (Silva, pg. 1). My parents have always told my sisters and I that education was the key to success and have always pushed us to do great in school. Another important factor of my lifestyle is having a part time job. I started working when I was sixteen to help pay for my cellphone, clothes, gas, car insurance, and school. My older sister also started working at the age of sixteen to reduce the amount of money my parents spend. Family vacations are taken every summer to Mexico, Florida, California, or Wisconsin. Every year we choose a different place and we go for two weeks. On the other hand, another important aspect of lifestyle is the people one associates with. For example, our family friends are individuals who like my parents decided to come to the United States for a better lifestyle. All of these people have jobs that do not require a college degree but that do require a lot of physical labor. My friends are usually people I met in school, work, or church. My friends and I have a similar type of lifestyle because they also belong to the anxious middle class. For instance, all of my friends have a part time or full time job and are currently going to a college or university. Their parents did not go to college and are trying to go to school to have a better lifestyle a couple of years from now. Class consciousness understanding the social class one belongs to. Plays a major role on my lifestyle and group of friends I associate with.

            The assumptions a person makes about what is morally correct and wrong is based on the social class he or she belongs to is known as ideology. My ideology based on life experiences I had when growing up with my family in an anxious middle class system. Even though my parents have been making enough money to give us a normal lifestyle, I have seen them go through moments of distress. For instance, the factory where my dad works in requires a lot of physical activity, and he would sometimes come home hurt because of all the lifting, pushing, and running. It was very sad seeing my dad in pain, and the next morning he still had to wake up early to go to work. Another stressful factor was when the factory fired over 100 workers in 2008. Fortunately, he was one of the few employees that were not unemployed, however, present day he is worried that next time it might be him.

Seeing my dad work 50 hours a week definitely has shaped the way I view the world. My dreams and goals are based on the opportunities available to me according to the class position I was born in, which is also known as life chances. My goal in life is to go to college to study Elementary Education. After I graduate, I want to find a job as a second grade teacher. My family definitely wants my sisters and me to go to college, so we can have a career that does not require us to work as much as my dad. However, I do know that many of the decisions I make regarding school are limited to the social class I belong to. For instance, I decided to go to Elgin Community College for two years to take the general classes required for my major. I made this choice because it was cheaper and something my parents were able to afford. After Elgin Community College, I decided to transfer to Roosevelt because of the academic scholarship I was awarded for having a 4.0 GPA at Elgin Community College. Roosevelt is paying for more than half of my tuition which is awesome because that has helped my family I with tuition. All of these decisions have been made because of my family’s income. If money would never been a concern my first choice was to attend Northwestern University which I was accepted in right after high school. However, it was too expensive and my parents would have had to take out a huge loan which my parents thought was a bad idea. I definitely want to finish school to have a better lifestyle than the one I grew up in. I am not complaining of the lifestyle I grew up in and currently have, but I do want something better to make my parents proud and let them know I did took advantage of the opportunities they gave to me by coming to this country. 

            Clearly, in the United States individuals are classified into a distinct group based on their economic status known as stratification. Money is a huge factor when stratifying individuals to a specific group. The group that has more money will have more power than the group who has a small amount of money. Since individuals are stratified based on their income, social justice does not exist in America. After studying social justice in class, I do not believe it is strongly implemented in America. As nation we have come a long way trying to provide equality but more can be done to make everyone feel like they belong. Individuals are always looked down upon because of their race, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, career, religion, and age. I do not believe that social justice exist in a country where social classes exist. The social class one is born into defines the life chances one will have in life. People can only set goals that are realistic to their current lifestyle. Another important reason why social justice is not implemented in the United States is because people that belong to the same social class judge each other based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and etc. Solidarity being able to understands members from the same or different social class. Solidarity is the first step for social justice to be greatly implemented being able to understand others. Having an open mind that allows one to understand where others come from and lifestyle is the key for equity.

           

           

           

           

           

school

Unfortunately, my parents were not able to go to college. They both did not have their parents support or the money to attend college. My parents have worked very hard to give my sisters and me a good life.  Even though my parents did not receive a college education, our lifestyle has been fairly good. They make good money because of their hard work.  However, my parents are well aware that having a college gives individuals great opportunities. It allows individuals to become successful in a particular career. My parents have always told my sister and me that school is very important. I still remember what my parents told me on my first day of kindergarten they said “Have fun at school and most importantly learn as much as you possibly can. Your job right now is to be a student!” They always told me to do my homework and to study for exams. I also loved how they would tell me that I could go to college and talked to me about different careers. Part of the reason why I am enrolled at Roosevelt is because of my parents support. Even though they would not help me with homework because they did not understand it, they always gave me the emotional support I needed. They believed in me and pushed me to work hard because good things happen to those that work for it. I am very happy I am in school right now and hope that when I graduate I can find a full time teaching job! I know that it won’t be easy, but with hard work and dedication I know I can do it. Lastly, I don’t think my economic status affected my reasoning of why I chose to go to college, however, my upbringing did a little because my parents have always been supportive of my sister and me receiving an education.

Jean Anyon

Jean Anyon described four different types of school. The first school described was the working class. The working class school was not the best school to receive an education. In this school, students are not challenged because educators view their students as stupid. They don’t believe that students can learn and get good grades and then strive to go to college. Some teachers would say that students get “dumber” as the years go by. In my opinion, educators should never refer to anyone as “dumb” mostly if their talking about their students.  The way the working class educators described knowledge was as something simple. Knowledge to them was simple facts and simple skills. The textbooks used in working class schools were very simple that did not challenge their students. Students in the working class had a lot of trouble when asked the definition of knowledge. The students did not know how to describe knowledge and most of them would say knowledge was “to know stuff.”   I did not like the working class schools because educators are not trying to provide a better education for their students.  The next class I will describe is the middle class school. The middle class school is different from the working class schools. It has more extracurricular activities for the students. Educators in middle class schools are trying to encourage their students to think. When students complete an assignment, educators ask the students why they completed it the way they did. Educators are more concerned with students understanding of the generalizations and other content of the books. Educators always explain to their students the readings assigned to them because it is important students understand what they are reading. Educators in the middle class are doing a great job because they are teaching their students to think. It is actually proven that students in the middle class are thinking more because they had less trouble describing the word knowledge. For the middle class students knowledge is “to remember.” Students in middle class schools believe in possibility because they educators are actually trying to challenge them in school so they can be smart enough to go to college. The third class I will describe is the affluent professional schools. The affluent professional schools have educators that want their students to “try to make sense of their experience.  Educators use questioning techniques to encourage their students to think. Another technique educators use to encourage thinking is having current event discussions.  Students enjoy having current event discussions because they are able to give their opinion. Since educators in these schools are encouraging their students to think outside the box students did not have an issue describing knowledge. It was describes as “the way one thinks.” The last class described was the executive elite school. This school was very similar to the affluent professional schools. The executive elite school believed in challenging their students to get them ready for college. However, these schools did not want lower class students enrolled. Only students from upper class could go to executive elite schools. Educators and students in these schools believed that knowledge was about teaching students to think and reason correctly, and to come up with valid conclusions. In executive elite schools students are being educated in a way that is preparing them for college. I am having issues finding examples of schools that belong to each class. I also don’t feel comfortable describing schools by classes because I find it really sad that schools are being classified by the amount of money one has. However, I will describe the high school I went to which was Elgin High School. I would classify Elgin High School as middle class. At Elgin High educators did challenge their students and cared about their education. Elgin High school also had extracurricular activities which helped students develop social skills. It also allowed them to think about different concepts and ideas

Stratified Monopoly

I really enjoyed playing stratified monopoly! It was nice getting to know some of my classmates while playing the game. In the game I was a middle class player which was not a bad place to be in. The upper class player was the person who surprised me the most. When we started the game, she was a regular player who was just happy to play the game. However, when we were 15 minutes into the game she started feeling superior to the rest of the players. As mentioned in the video “Money on the Mind,” the rich player starts feeling like a rich person.  She started demanding properties she wanted to buy and was not giving the other players an opportunity to buy something. All that mattered to the rich player was to have the most money. She did not sympathize with the other players all that mattered was for her to stay in her social class. On the other hand, the other player including myself worked more as a team. We were talking to each other and sympathizing with each other. For example, when the poor player had to pay the rich person rent the other players and I felt very sorry for him. I personally wanted to pay the rent myself, so the poor player would not end up with no money. Lastly, life chances are illustrated when playing stratified monopoly. Depending on what class you are born into are the chances you receive in life. For example, the rich player made up the rules, demanded what he or she wanted, and looked down at others.  Depending on the lifestyle you are born in are the opportunities you have in life. In the game the rich stay rich and poor stay poor.

Tribe

I have many dreams that I want to accomplish. My dream and goal is to become an educator. I am willing to work very hard to accomplish my dream. My parents were not able to go to college because they were too busy working to give my sisters and me a better life. My dad always worked extra hours and sometimes he worked two jobs to give his family a nice life. My dad’s goal was to give us a home, food, and a nice school. He always made sure that we were going to school, doing our homework, and getting good grades. He wanted us to have what he never had the opportunity to go to college. The reason why I am at Roosevelt achieving my goal to become an educator is because of my parents. They were always were by my side supporting me and giving me what I needed in order for me to be successful in school. After explaining this, I would say my tribe is full of hard working individuals. Individuals who are willing to work very hard in order to get what they want. It is also made up of people that believe education leads to success. We do not give up! If we fall, we get right back up. Our tribe believes that goals can be achieved if we work hard and never give up.  It is also full of trustworthy individuals that are willing to help each other. Loving and caring for others are important traits to have to be successful in a career and to have healthy friendships. I love the tribe that I belong to, but I would also love to meet people from different tribes.

Tammy

Tammy’s story made me really sad and depressed. After I got out of class, I was still thinking about Tammy’s story.  Then I started thinking that Tammy and her family are not the only ones in America living that type of lifestyle.  It is not fair that while some people are spending so much money on clothes, cars, and vacations there are families that have absolutely nothing to eat.  I really want to go help out families that are in need. I wish I had enough money to help Tammy’s family, so they can have a nicer place to live in, so she can have a car, and for Tammy to have a better job. One thing that I disliked a lot from Tammy’s situation is that her son is ashamed of her. If Tammy’s son was a little more supportive, maybe Tammy would not feel as sad as she does. Tammy’s life is not easy, and her sons are adding more stress by the way they behave. Present day I would think that Tammy’s life is the same or worse. She probably has more health issues and does not have money to go to the doctor or to buy medicine. Tammy’s sons I hope have continued their education and are working hard to help their mom financially. I just hope they are all still alive and are a little more united as a family.  

"Wealth Inequality in America" and "People like Us (Teaser)"

The “Wealth Inequality in America” video made me look at the world in a different way. I never really gave much thought on how America’s wealth was distributed. I always thought of the rich as having a lot of money and the poor as individuals that are working hard to survive. It is very sad to hear that there is an “ideal” way of how wealth should be distributed and a “what Americans think” how wealth should be distributed. However, neither the “ideal” nor “what Americans think” is the ACTUAL way wealth is distributed. It is shocking to hear that the top 1 percent has 40 percent of America’s wealth. The top 1 percent is the one that owns 50 percent of stock, bonds, and etc. This is not fair! I know that the wealthy work very hard for their money, but it is depressing to know that while a person is having a great day shopping another is dying because they have nothing to eat. I wish there could be a way to distribute the nation’s wealth in a way that everyone benefits, but that is impossible. The “People like Us (teaser)” was an interesting video that said nothing but the truth. It is true that people are classified to a specific class by the way a person styles his or her hair. What a person wears is also a major factor when classifying an individual to a particular class.  I don’t think it’s fair to judge a person by what he or she is wearing because maybe they are very wealthy but enjoy dressing casually. Looks do not always give a person the right answer about where the person falls in the spectrum of social class. I have thought of social class in the past, but I never really knew how much money the rich actually have versus the poor. I am very surprised how skewed most people’s understandings of wealth distribution in America actually is. I am surprised because my understanding was also skewed. I thought wealth was a little more evenly distributed than how it actually is. This made me realize that I need to pay more attention to what is going on in America. Lastly, social class does have an impact on the values and views of people. For example, a person who is very wealthy wants their children to receive the best education possible. They will register their kids in private schools, so they will be ready to go to Harvard when the time comes. A wealthy person has their own fashion sense. There are specific outfits they can only wear that are accepted in their social class. On the other hand, people that belong to middle class will allow their children to go to public school because it’s what they can afford. They also will buy their clothes in stores that are not too expensive. Social class is a very important subject to be aware of because we are all part of one social class.