Social Class

This week we talked about social class and how in society today once you are born into a poor family, it is hard to break that cycle to become wealthy. We watched a video that discussed a family who was dirt poor and then compared it to a family in the Hamptons. I was able to relate to the video of the family who was dirt poor because their life was similar to one of my family members. On my dad's side of the family no one in his family went to college except my dad. When my dad finsished college and got his degree, a few years ago he decided to go back to school and become a lawyer. My dad is almost 40 years old, so for someone his age going back to school to recieve another degree is a big deal, especially in his family. During the time when my dad was in school, he quit his job so my family was only living off my mom's salary as a teacher which isn't a ton. It didn't really seem like a big deal, but it had a drastic change in the way my family dealt with money and what we did and didn't spend our money on. My dad's sister, my Aunt Mary has no college education and is the manager of Wawa in a little town in New Jersey. She has four kids, 2 who don't have a college degree, one who is my age and doesn't plan on going to college, ever, doesn't plan/want to take the ACT, and one who is a year younger than me, who also doesn't plan on going to college. We learned that part of this is because once you become used to how your family lives it is hard to break that cycle. My mom and I always talk about this and how my dad was the person in his family to break his cycle of children not attending college, but my Aunt Mary hasn't broken her own cycle and either will her kids so they will all grow up living like her because from her they have gotten the attitude of "my mom is fine living her life the way she does so I will be able to also." Both my Uncle Anthony and Uncle Michael both chose to enter the Army and not attend college. Back then, it wasn't hard to find a job, but now that they both have young children they have realized how important college really is and they will also break the cycle for their children in order for them to have the opportunity for a better life filled with more opportunities. Social class follows us everywhere and I know when I go to college there are going to be people less fortunate and more fortunate than I am so I am going to have to keep an open mind and realize that not everyone is as fortunate as I am and to be able to get used to the differences in people.