I want to live like common people like you.

[raybear]

Ok, I'll do the class meme. But on my own know-it-all terms. I'm adding a bunch of things that I think should also be on the list. [There's a ** before them, in case you're curious. If you have others you thought of, please share!]

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college [dropped out, couldn't afford classes, and you didn't need a college degree to enter the secretarial pool. which is still middle class.]
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor [there are LOTS of engineers though, which is pretty middle class]
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively [i'm assuming they mean how I dressed and talked as a kid. but even now, white men aren't doing so bad for themselves in media. also, when I was a kid "In the Heat of the Night" was popular and those were my people!]
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs [I did have to work during, but still it was a fraction.]
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels [motels, mostly, and only once every two years for special trips (most 'vacations' were visiting family). but still.]
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 (not all of it, but much of it)
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
**You HAD a car before the age of 18 that was yours alone
**Household owned two or more cars
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 [The summer I turned 16 I took my first flight...a trip to Europe! Hello, privilege.]
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family
**You went to the dentist on a regular basis
**Had braces
**Had regular healthcare or a family doctor
**Your household had cable television
**Had VCR
**Had a home computer
**Had a video game system
**Had a parent explain to you how to do your taxes


And I created a part two -- what sort of privilege do I have NOW? If you answered the first meme in your journal, I'd be curious to know your results of this one too. (You can do it in the comment section here, if you prefer.)



Went to college
Finished college
Went to graduate school
Finished graduate school
Have a credit card
Have more than one credit card (checking account cards don't count)
Have a computer in your household
Have more than one computer in your household
Own an mp3 player
Have cable television
Have internet
Have DVD player
Have a video game system
Have a cell phone
Have more than 50 books in your house
Have more than 500 books in your house
Have a car **technically no, but I share a household with a car owner and have liberal privileges
Own your home
Have original art in your house
Go to musuems and concerts once a year
Have health insurance ***my partner's, but still. privilege.
Have dental insurance ***my partner's, but still. privilege.
Fly on a commerical airline once a year
Have an IRA, trust fund
Have a 401K or some similar sort of retirement account ***I HAD one, but I cashed it out for chest surgery.
Have a checking account
Have a saving account
Have paid vacation time
Have paid sick time


....what else on this list? I know I'm missing things.

I barely make lower middle-class income bracket. But 'barely' is still doing it. [Note: I'm using the standard of $25,000-$50,000.] And after my massive consumer debt payments and grad school loan payments, I don't have lots of cash left. In fact, I'm bouncing checks and/or shuffling money back and forth to prevent it. But the fact is, I CAN bounce checks. And I'm eating well and living well and most of my bills are paid in a somewhat reasonable manner. And the irony is I would be living even better if I didn't have so much credit card debt that was driven by my need to maintain a middle/upper-class existence right out of college. I also have a graduate degree and at any moment could walk into HR and ask for a full time position with benefits and probably make $50,000 a year with paid vacation and sick days, plus I'd have a 401K and could bold the statement above. So even though I don't HAVE some of the things on my list, if I really really really wanted them, I probably could within a year or so. I choose not to, for my sanity, for my writing endeavors. But that doesn't mean I can ignore the privilege that goes with it either. And I don't for the most part. I mean, I freak out about money (who doesn't?) and I stress about it and its a real problem, but you know. Microcosm/macrocosm.

I also interests me how the experience of the first list has informed who people are as adults and our various relationships to money. I know that most people would probably bold the majority of the second list. I mean, this meme is happening on a blogging site, so people obviously have leisure time and access to computers, which implies many of the other things here too.

Comments

[sinsense.livejournal.com]

I'm going to do it in your comments, if that's all right?

Went to college
Finished college
Went to graduate school
Finished graduate school - not quite yet, although I do have a master's.
Have a credit card
Have more than one credit card (checking account cards don't count)
Have a computer in your household
Have more than one computer in your household
Own an mp3 player
Have cable television
Have internet
Have DVD player - in my computer.
Have a video game system
Have a cell phone
Have more than 50 books in your house
Have more than 500 books in your house - I have more than 500 all told, but they don't all fit in my house.
Have a car
Own your home
Have original art in your house - this one's odd, in the original and here, just because for me it means that I have my grandmother and mother's work in my house.
Go to museums and concerts once a year
Have health insurance
Have dental insurance
Fly on a commerical airline once a year
Have an IRA, trust fund
Have a 401K or some similar sort of retirement account
Have a checking account
Have a saving account
Have paid vacation time
Have paid sick time

Really interesting - I think you're right to turn it around onto the person taking the quiz, as well. I read in a friend's (unfortunately flocked) very popular discussion of this that the original quiz was meant to determine how likely it was that you would assume you could and would go to college.

I'd add one thing in particular to what you've written: I am white.

[masscooper.livejournal.com]

How about not just insurance, but comprehensive insurance? And can you afford to use it?
Able to pay your bills every month? After your bills are paid, money to go out? Money to travel on a long weekend or holiday?
Is there an empty (abandoned) lot in your block/on your walk to the train/grocery store, whatever? Can you walk to a grocery store? A bank? Is there a payday loan place in your area?

I also had problems with the original meme -- like the part where it tries to measure your relative class by asking you about your relative class. Not to mention, there's private, secular school, and then there's parochial school. The latter often provides more provisions for people who do not have access to a lot of money to attend. Also, I think a good addition these days to the class meme would ask about uniforms and dress codes for school; metal detectors; ability to purchase books for school (new v. used). Plus, my results are different if I look at my father's household v. my mother's.

I always think it's interesting to hear what USans think of as middle class v. working class v. rich.

[fuzzilla.livejournal.com]

There was an episode of "Everybody Hates Chris" where he and his friend were freaking out about that "what job you're suited for" assessment test. They told him basically "you won't amount to much" and told his friend "you can do anything you want - engineer, astronaut, businessman..." His friend is all "but what if I choose the wrong thing? I mean, all these expectations are so much pressure..." The voice-over said "at that moment, I understood what it meant to be white."