Class Diary #4

I am a hopeless romantic so I love movies which end with the underdog winning.  One such movie is Maid In Manhattan.  For those of you who have not seen this movie it is about a maid in a posh hotel in New York City who finds herself in a relationship with one of the guests who does not know she is the maid.  Through amusing anecdotes and laughable situations she manages to turn this possible lovely one night stand into a relationship to last a life time.  My question, however, is what happens after the movie is over?

We recently read about how people who are attempting to switch from one social class to another can experience survivor’s guilt (a label that I dislike greatly).  This makes me wonder how a single mother from the projects is going to psychologically fit into the world of a white upper class elected representative.  Of course the movie does not look into life after the happily ever after but if it did I believe it would see many things not so romantic.  For instance, can a working girl give up her job to live a life of banquets and caterers? Sure the thought sounds nice but I would go crazy! Also, can she change the way that she speaks and acts to permanently fit in with the crowd of people this man will be introducing her to?

To be honest the whole idea of the movie is absurd.  The premise is one that every little girl dreams of but one that rarely happens.  There are famous examples of women who were taken from working class backgrounds put into posh settings and eventually had to leave.  Now, these experiences changed the women forever but something ingrained in them could not be taken out, something stopped them from being fully able to assimilate into their new social class.

The struggles that the Maid must overcome to have a relationship with the man in this movie cause her to “borrow” clothing, lie, and eventually lose her job.  Is all that worth giving up who you are? Would you want to be someone different just to have someone notice you?

The most striking line in this movie is when the Maid confronts the man about the fact that she was invisible to him when she was cleaning his floors.  It was only after she “borrowed” clothes and pretended to be someone she was not that he even saw her.  This scene makes me think of how many times the people around us are invisible to us.  Chris mentioned in class last week that he thanks the cleaning crew at South Station.  This is an act that does not happen enough. 

If you ever watch this movie you will realize that the whole thing is about class differences.  And, even though it makes for a great movie, it makes for a horrible representation of the working class while glorifying elitist society.

PS: The term survivors guilt is not high on my list of liked phrases because it implies that lower social classes are something to crawl away from.  It says that they are bad and that one must survive to live better.  It also implies that those who do not rise above their social class are failures.  While the idea behind the term is something that I can get behind (feelings resulting from a change in one’s social standing) the term itself should be replaced with something more fitting or just done away with all together.

Class Diary #3

The other day my husband and his friend were doing something in the kitchen and they began to talk about their childhood experiences.  As the conversation progressed they began to compare notes on how poor their families were.  Ken, my husband’s friend, said that his family used to have farmers stew which was French fries, meat, and macaroni and cheese all mixed together and that would be dinner.  Toward the end of the conversation my husband stated, “When I was growing up we could not afford Ziplock.”

The theme of this conversation was one I could have chimed in on but instead I sat back and thought about what their conversation represented.  Through their words Ken and Justin were recreating class in an atmosphere that was surrounded by food and material goods.  Neither of them lacked family love or support and neither seemed worse for the wear but each recognized that they had made something of themselves since their no Ziplock days.

Each week we talk a lot about what makes class.  Is it where we come from? Is it what we do? Is it how we eat? I do not think there is a distinct answer but I do think that Ken and Justin would say it has a lot to do money.  It is my assumption that Ken’s family would not have invented such meals if they had other options.  It is also my assumption that Justin’s family did not buy Ziplock because they could not afford it, not because they liked the store brands better. 

As I prepare to go to the market today I am thinking about the items that I need.  In order to prepare my son’s food I need Ziplock freezer bags and store brand snack bags.  Does this mean that I have a confused sense of class identity? Does the fact that I make Jacob’s food make me uppity or money conscious? In class we have discovered there are no easy ways to answer these questions.  And, through my observations of this particular conversation between my husband and his friend I am reminded that if you asked 20 people you would probably get 15 different answers. 

So for now, I will be happy with the knowledge that I am doing what is best for my family with hopes that someday Jacob will say “When I was growing up my mother bought store brand baggies” (not out of a sense of entitlement but from a sense of accomplishment as I hope he does better than my husband and I).

Class Diary #2

Throughout the holiday season I am astounded at what others and I will pay to make someone happy.  The gifts that are purchased due to social norms are extravagant and in most instances outside of one’s personal budget.  This was never made clearer to me than when a former employee of my family business told me how she intended to pay for her son’s gifts.

Apparently there are companies that pray on the misfortune of the minimum wage employees in America by allowing them to take an advance against their expected tax return so that they can have the money to buy presents.  The idea that a person needs to borrow money to buy Christmas gifts should not be that foreign as most people have credit cards which in essence is doing the same thing.  However, the idea of needing to borrow against future tax returns in such a distinct and planned way astounded me.

As a salary employee I know what my income will be each week and I plan my family’s budget accordingly.  The knowledge of this gift getting scheme hammered in the point that not all Americans are as lucky as I am.  I see employees each day who cannot afford to fix their car, pay their medical bills, or leave their child in school after being suspended because they cannot miss one hour of work.  The working poor who take these jobs have no education or the wrong type of education for the available career opportunities. 

It is my belief that a system which enables and possibly forces parents into a situation where they need to borrow against future income tax returns to purchase coveted Christmas gifts is corrupt and unjust.  The fact that the minimum wage in this country is so low that a parent cannot afford the medical bills for his child is astounding.  The class structure of our society which keeps these well meaning people down is so engrained I cannot propose a way around it.  I can, however, hope that one day the rich will be poorer and the poor will be richer and parents will not have to borrow money to provide a simple Christmas gift.

Occupy Wall Street or Occupy Minds

Occupy Wall Street could also be called Occupy Minds…the minds of Americans and forward thinking inhabitants of this world that is.  Class warfare, political disobedience?  Possibly but I believe that this movement is more about being heard and the voice of the people. 

What I have gotten from the dozen or so articles I have read and videos I have watched is that Occupy Wall Street has achieved its goal: to be heard.  No one can quite agree on what main topic is and some people have brought very random topics to the table but all in all America and I am sure the world (who loves when Americans go crazy in large scale) knows that these so called 99% are unhappy. 

I have a political heart and I wish to believe that one person or in this case 100s can make a difference.  I am not convinced, however, that this movement will make a difference.  I believe that the participants will go home unhappy and unfulfilled.  While it is refreshing to see a movement which allows every participant to voice their own concerns a movement such as this is bond to die out before any goals are achieved.

Staying with the theme of our class I must admit that the protestors see class as a fight against corporate elitist who are sucking the life out of the underlings of society versus themselves.  It is hard to buy this as a fully owned feeling, however, when protestors support multi-million dollar companies with the items they own.  As well most Occupy Wall Street “residents” came from outside of the city meaning that they had to use some sort of public or private transportation supported or paid for by federal funds.  At times like these I wonder if some of these protestors are jumping on the band wagon without knowing where the wagon is supposed to be going regardless of it gets there.

I do not believe that there is any foolproof solution to the issues that the protestors have with the current government.  I believe that France has shown that no matter how many times you re-make your republic you cannot find the correct solution unless you re-work society as a whole.  This being said America will not find what it is looking for in a park in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, or any other area of the United States.  I believe that now that their voice has been heard these protestors should go home, run for elections, break our two party system and really make a difference by bringing debate and challenge to our main system of control in this country.  If this were to be done America could have change on an unheard of scale.  If this were to be done the protestors would eventually have a solution to their grievances instead of saying I was once where someone was trying to do something but no one ever knew what that was.

P.S. The Human Microphone reminds me of the game telephone and only moves this protest closer to its failure.

Educational Advantage or Disadvantage?

I can remember attending two different schools during my grade school days.  Both schools were located in middle-class bedrooms communities where I received a good education that prepared me for college and beyond.  Throughout my schooling I received instruction in math, science, history, language arts, and English.  I also was taught by gym teachers, music teachers, art teachers and so on.  During these days I never thought about the repercussions of my experiences other than to acknowledge that they would one day lead me to a good college.  After reading Anyon, Gorski, Laureau, and Engel, however, I have a slightly different view of my grade school curriculum. 

Particularly, in the High School that I attended each student was placed in a class based on their abilities.  These classes were designated by the letters A, B, and C.  (Consequently A classes were for those who excelled in their material, B classes were for average students, and C classes were for those who needed extra help but were not special needs.)  As I was in the A level courses I was taught a curriculum similar to the students in affluent professional schools according to Anyon.  These classes taught me to think about my subjects and express my thoughts in a manner in which I may convince others of my reasoning.  I was taught social mannerisms that would be necessary in mid-level managerial work once I completed my schooling. 

Opposite of my experience was the experience of those in C level classes.  From the experiences of the friends that I had in these classes I can say with certainty that these students were taught a curriculum similar to that found in a working-class school.  These students were taught the basics without the reasoning behind their actions.  They knew how to do the tasks at hand but did not know why they were doing them.  Furthermore, these students relied heavily on stall tactics to put off work and complete as little as possible and still pass to the next grade.  (Similarly, I observed this type of work in a school that my brother attended for students with behavioral problems and in a school that my friend’s brother is currently attending.)

I believe that it is telling of the financial system in my high school town that the school had the ability to cater to each type of student in the way that they did (keeping in mind that this schooling system also had an excellent special needs program).  While the article written by Engel states that Rhode Island spends $639 less per pupil in high minority areas I would be interested to know the per pupil expenditure of my school district during my tenure there. The fact that my school district had a very low impoverished population most certainly impacted the education I received. 

Outside of school I was taught to follow through with certain actions based on social queues and status indicators.  Through my own schooling and upbringing at home I was taught that if I wanted to say something I should think about the outcome of my action and if it was something I could live with than I should speak up.  Having a mother who worked in the corporate banking world exposed me to many executives belonging to the corporate class.  My mother always encouraged me to ask questions of everyone and demand respect in accordance with my position.  (As a child this mostly meant asking if I could have the half eaten desert or staying quiet when the adults talked but expecting an answer when I asked a serious and thought filled question.)  In doing this my mother encouraged me to reach levels of higher understanding and not be afraid to speak up in front of people from all social classes.  I was taught, much like Stacey and Fern, how to wait, evaluate a situation and decide when to intervene on behalf of someone else (most of the time my little sister) or myself.  Much like Stacey and Fern I observed my own mother making these same decisions which transferred social values to me and taught me how to act in accordance with my social status.  One such example was when she fought with our school district to have them pay the bill to send my brother to a school in Providence which was equip to deal with his behavioral issues in ways that our school was not (they lost him one day, quite literally did know where he was and did not care).

As I have now entered the world of adult hood I have seen many of the topics we discuss in class play out in the world around me.  I can now see the type of education that I received and its class basis.  I can see the jobs that my husband and I hold through a class lens.  And I can see where we would like to be in 10 years through the glasses that Professor Schuster is attempting to transplant on to us.  Due to all of this I can also see the challenges that some have achieving the education I have been lucky to receive due to my social standing.  Where I work I see people of the working-poor who must find food and diapers the moment they cash their checks.  And I see others who would like to criticize these hard working people so that they will not have to look into themselves and see their own short comings. 

Reflecting on my educational background formal and informal it is hard for me to see anything other than a middle class outcome from what I received.  My teachers taught me to question but to ultimately accept their solution.  My mother taught me to stand up for myself but remain submissive to those above you.  And those who I work with now show me that try as they might some people were never given the skills necessary to work anywhere other than the service sector.  I believe that some people focus on the short comings of other (i.e. studying the culture of poverty) to avoid fixing their own faults.  I also believe that I owe my attitude, demeanor, and status to the education I received.  While I like to believe that we can tell all teachers to tech equally and give each student the ability to achieve whatever they would like I know that this is not possible.  My class glasses are not rose colored but my hope for future education is.  I would like my son to grow up in an educational system where I do not need to pay for him to receive an affluent professional education. Maybe this is will be reality some day, maybe…