Sunday, November 7, 2010

Stop and Think: What messages have you absorbed about economic class?

    When I was a child, I did not think much about my family's economic status.  We lived in a big but old house and we lived a comfortable lifestyle.  I do not remember my parents ever worrying about money, but I know that we did not have an abudance of it growing up.  My parents taught my sisters and I to not spend money extravagantly and that money was valuable, but you did not need to spend a huge amount of money to enjoy yourself (we took camping trips and trips to visit family as family vacations, rather than going somewhere expensive). 
    The elementary school that I attended was made up of many different economic classes-from students living in poverty to students who came from wealthy families-so I noticed that there was a difference of economic status during those school years.  I always just thought that children's parents had different jobs and those jobs paid differently so that determined whether your family had money or not. 
     As a teenager, I learned that being "successful" comes from working hard.  My dad especially has always been a really hard worker and has passed down that drive of having to work hard in order to be successful with things such as your career and money.  I always learned that any type of work was "professional" work, it just depends on how devoted you are to your particular job.   

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with everything in this post. I never thought about my family's economic status. I went to a magnet school where it is required to have a variety of ethnicities, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses enrolled, but I was never bothered by other students who had more or less than me. I like the last sentence about any work being professional work.

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