Monday, January 21, 2008

Class meme: privilege ahoy!

As seen at Anastasia:

Bold the statements that are true.

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college (and M.A.)
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college (and M.A.)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. (not sure on this one--we may have been close)
9. Were read children's books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs (with loans)
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp (only day camp)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels (only motels and camping, with an occasional exception)
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them ($500, from my grandmother)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child (print series--does that count?)
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home (by which I mean, they paid their mortgage. They owned it outright shortly after I graduated from college, thanks to money they inherited from one of my grandparents.)
25. You had your own room as a child
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school (We had one TV, on principle.)
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (I went to the 1976 Olympics at age 1, and flew to Hawaii at age 13)
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

18/34

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, you're not trying to diminish your privilege through parenthetical comments, are you? Embrace it, white girl.

Anonymous said...

Okay, so I just did mine, and it's hard not to editorialize a bit.

Crimson Rambler said...

This reminds me of a similar survey in Vance Packard's "The Status Seekers"...back in the dark ages!

Kath said...

8,9,16,23.

That's it. We were poor. 5 kids all in Catholic school for 12 yrs and my Mom was a sahm. My dad worked 2-3 jobs to support us.

My parents were not in favor of college..said all I needed to do when I graduated from HS was to get married and have kids. Wound up paying for 100% of my college on my own.

Small wonder I decided not to have kids when I was 8.