privilege meme

[keryx]

Bold the ones that are true for you.
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
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 [Was close, I think]
Were read children's books by a parent [But way more adult (not "adult" adult, you know, Stephen King and Dickens and stuff) books!]
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 [Piano, harp, dance, art classes]
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively [I guess - I mean, white yuppies, sure.]
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 (hahahahahahaha)
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school [I didn't. But DID go to a private middle school, though on a scholarship]
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 [Though I'm not positive on this one, I assume that it had to be.]
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child [Does mine & my grandmother's count? Cause yes, then.]
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 [At one point, I shit you not, I had two. Navy housing gave us a townhouse with 3 bedrooms. So I was a mostly working-class kid with a PLAYROOM.]
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
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

One of the big class-based predictors of academic success is supposed to be the presence of books in your house. My parents both came from factory-working families, but were avid readers (mom read magazines, but was also in school for most of my lower school years, so lots of college textbooks, while dad read assloads of fiction). Both of my parents shared books with me, and I don't just mean the books themselves but conversation about them.

I don't know why I felt the need to point that out, except that a) I was always a big nerd and b) I am now an equally big yuppie. So the research is right in my case.

Comments

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

I think it goes back to assumptions of class/art/reading/literate-ness... which... are just totally gross and classist.

Hell, my first boss at the company I am at... who was a librarian, did not own any books. He was surprised when I brought books to the baby shower.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Oh, the class stuff wrapped up in art... it is tangly. I mean, in the case of writing it's historically been the assumed province of only an "educated" upper class - both its production and consumption. But performing arts are different - dance, music & even to an extent theatre are all "popular" arts that are supposedly consumed by people who are economically well-off. I can point to some ways that divide has changed today, but also to ways it's just as bad as ever.

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

The history of writing.. that the poor folks never learned it, slaves were forbidden to access it, that women had to use false names in publishing inherently ties that art to class - the same with dance... the division in schools based so much along lines of class and race, and the same is said of music.

I was classically trained in ballet for a decade (due to much sacrificed on my Mother's part) and seeing how that 'training' shaped both my views on art, and 'acceptability' was frightening. There was a lot of shit I had to unpack.