Mini-America

I grew up and lived in the city of Evansville, Indiana.  Although some residents may complain and say that there is nothing to do, I take some pride in coming from Evansville.  Evansville is a city of about 120,000 residents in the limits, and 350,000 metro.  It has also been known as an “all-american” meaning that it has a wide variety of economic classes and types of people.  Many companies actually use test-markets in Evansville because it serves as sort of a “mini-America” or small representation of the country as a whole.  Growing up in Evansville, I believe, has made me into an experienced and somewhat worldly adult.

The influence of class in a “classless” society

In my experiences as a student that has attended public school, class has always be observed in my life.  As you walk down the hallway from class you might see a student who might have some worn clothes or not the newest pair of shoes.  These students might also get picked on by others such as the jocks or the preps.  High school is a place of cliques that are often decided by a person’s class.  If you don’t wear the right clothes, play the right sport, or even say the right things, you might be excluded from a certain group.  People within those groups often sit together at lunch, have the same classes, or hang out with each other.

A common experience with students throughout their school days areplaying sports and standing in line, waiting to get picked for teams. Many of these decisions were based upon class or the group of people that you are assossciated with.   The jocks or sports kids were always picked first.  Then it was a matter of who looked like they could play the sport or was friends with someone.  The kids who were poor and unathletic were often picked last.  This can be translated directly to society.  Those people who are well connected are selected for succes.  Those who are poor and underprivileged are at a dissadvantage.

Despite this, I feel that the American society allows for social mobility which would allow people to obtain a higher class.  The path to that success may be more difficult depending upon your situation but it is possible.  Returning to the situation of picking teams, it is true that those who have connections and the right skills will often be picked first and those that are not will be picked last.  But there is the chance for a kid who might be pisked last to practice and work on that sport and be picked closer to the front because he has skills that are wanted.  A way that a lucky few people circumvent this route are those that may win the lottery or a game show.  These are the people who are often from the middle to lower classes who have gained newfound wealth.  With this new found wealth, they are able to move up into the class goal of many people, the upper class.

Home

My home town’s class system is almost as diverse as its citizens. Almost everyone is is upper-middle class, and the few people who aren’t in that class all live in the downtown area on the east side of town. I think that it is very interesting how people separate themselves based on how much money they. Most of this is because of housing developers build houses in area, and only certain people can afford it. However these “poor” parts of town are barely even that. Sure they aren’t as well off as about 96% of the town, however our town has zero homeless people, which means everyone has at least a roof over their head. Compared to some of the other towns around me, Westborough is considered a very “well to do” town, and growing up in this environment added to my sheltered upbringing.

Class Division

Having grown up with my extended family tightly woven in to everyday life I knew how daily life would be. I was accustomed to a middle to upper class society. It was that way until about high school when that same tightly woven family encouraged me to get more involved. The thing I found best was Habitat for Humanity. I began to fit into a life not common to mine. I started working on houses over spring break in an area that was nice, but low in the class system. It was made up of single parent households living below the poverty line. The more often I began to help the more I realized that I connected with people with entirely different views of family, some good and some bad. Through this service, that was exciting to say the least, I developed an unexpected response. I had as much in common with people of a different social class as those in the class which I belong. The problem then can only be associated with money. The differences in a community can be as simple as an economic divide, which is distressful.

Stratification

Class divide is a topic form which most of the people shy away from in a conversation almost throughout the world. People find it very difficult to talk about the class divide and try to pretend that the “divide” isn’t really there. But the reality is far from that. Class divide is one of the biggest divisions prevalent today and is as big a problem as race divide or any such divide based on religion or culture.
In India as in America the class divide is very prominent if studied carefully. The statement that the rich get richer and that the poor get poorer is actually really valid and I completely agree. The fact that people actually claim that they do not believe in class divide is farcical. The rich always have a barrier in their minds and are very class conscious in my opinion.
I remember various incidents back from the city where I come from which throws light upon the aforementioned statement. I remember many a instances when we were taken on field trips by the school to not so “affluent” localities. The kids coming from well off backgrounds always had a problem going on these kind of field trips as it took them away from their comfort zones. I remember some of them even made a fuss about the quality of school buses they were being taken to the field trips on, where as the other kids who did not have very parentage and had seen some sufferings and hardships in life, monetarily as well as psychologically were always fascinated about these trips and never made a fuss about anything. They usually were very receptive and ready to absorb whatever they could.
I would say that apart from the monetary background of people what also shapes their views on class divide is the way they have been raised up by their parents. Parents who are pretty narrow minded and do not think of anyone and anything beyond themselves because of the “moolah” which backs them up have very pronounced class divisions in their minds, in reality or even sub consciously sometimes.
I really believe in the fact that a country which has people belonging to various economic strata should have people who are responsible enough to understand their place in the society and the responsibilities which come along with their economic might. The power of inclusivity should never be undermined, as in the long run, unequal distribution of wealth and income and prejudices in the minds of the people is never going to help the country progress beyond a particular point.

Stratification

Class divide is a topic form which most of the people shy away from in a conversation almost throughout the world. People find it very difficult to talk about the class divide and try to pretend that the “divide” isn’t really there. But the reality is far from that. Class divide is one of the biggest divisions prevalent today and is as big a problem as race divide or any such divide based on religion or culture.
In India as in America the class divide is very prominent if studied carefully. The statement that the rich get richer and that the poor get poorer is actually really valid and I completely agree. The fact that people actually claim that they do not believe in class divide is farcical. The rich always have a barrier in their minds and are very class conscious in my opinion.
I remember various incidents back from the city where I come from which throws light upon the aforementioned statement. I remember many a instances when we were taken on field trips by the school to not so “affluent” localities. The kids coming from well off backgrounds always had a problem going on these kind of field trips as it took them away from their comfort zones. I remember some of them even made a fuss about the quality of school buses they were being taken to the field trips on, where as the other kids who did not have very parentage and had seen some sufferings and hardships in life, monetarily as well as psychologically were always fascinated about these trips and never made a fuss about anything. They usually were very receptive and ready to absorb whatever they could.
I would say that apart from the monetary background of people what also shapes their views on class divide is the way they have been raised up by their parents. Parents who are pretty narrow minded and do not think of anyone and anything beyond themselves because of the “moolah” which backs them up have very pronounced class divisions in their minds, in reality or even sub consciously sometimes.
I really believe in the fact that a country which has people belonging to various economic strata should have people who are responsible enough to understand their place in the society and the responsibilities which come along with their economic might. The power of inclusivity should never be undermined, as in the long run, unequal distribution of wealth and income and prejudices in the minds of the people is never going to help the country progress beyond a particular point.

Looking Down

Throughout high school, I played a lot of tennis.  It was demanding and required alot of consistent court time year round.  Growing up near Chicago, good weather was not a year round thing, meaning I would have to go indoors and pay to play.  At my school, playing a whole winter was rare because of the cost being so high.  Luckily, my parents always saved money for me to get lessons once a week with my instructor indoors.  Since I was improving, he invited me to play with an advanced group a second time during the week for free.  This made me very excited.  When I came out to the group that first time, I noticed every person had top of the line everything:  shoes, bags, three of the newest raquets, and clothing.  Not only did they have all this, but they could afford court time almost daily.  I was immediately noticed due to my appearance and not in a good way.  All of these people gave me looks and attitude when they had to talk to me.  I tried to be friendly, but it was hard when no respect was given back to me.  When I would be winning against one of them, they would throw fits on the court and be completely shocked that they could be losing to this “scrub” as I heard them call me once.  Fortunately, I could control myself very well, and I used this discrimination to fuel myself to do better, but I was not happy that I had to do such.  So in my area, tennis seemed to be exclusively an upper class sport due to high indoor court prices.

Perception of class

Throughout my enitre life I have been influenced by race and class stauses. At a young age to now I have grown up very privileged and have expectations as to what I believe to be socially correct. These expectations have developed from people that surround me such as my parents, siblings, and grandparents. Not only has family been an influential factor to my beliefs and judgements but also my friends, co workers, and even people I have never meet before. Starting at a young age, I constantly observed my environment, that people that occupy it, and their actions. I became immune to my surroundings and whatever differed from it I didn’t like. What I mean by I didn’t like, is that I felt uncomfortable and judged everything that was going on, judging what I was used to, to what I was experiencing.

To this day I am not a judgement person whatsoever, but I do at times feel the urge to compare who I am versus people I feel as though are differnt than myself. I do this mainly by observing an individuals status or better known as their class type. I’ll find myself looking at the clothing their wearing, the people they associate themselves with, or even their ehtnicity. I know many people are guilty of doing this, but it almost comes as a nature instinct. Judgements based on the previous factors are constantly seen in middle schools and high schools,  thus going on to form specfic cliques.

Class status has the power to influence any type of person to believe what they personally deem to be acceptable and appropriate in today’s societies.

The Name Game

I have encountered very few situations in my life where race was an issue.  I did however have situations where class was a common issue brought into view.  Playing sports in high school you could often predict who was going to get the most playing time or who was going to get the open position on the varsity team.  If someone who was from a higher class family was trying out you could almost always bet that they would get the spot.  Some of them were from wealthy prestigious family.  Some had parents who owned large companies in the area.  Some had a parent who was on the school board committee.  One girl’s father was a representative in the state government.  Although sometimes these people received they’re playing spot through hard work and dedication, there were countless times were they were merely handed these spots because of their last names.  This was a common frustration all throughout high school and I have come to learn that “the name game” is a part of the real world as well. 

Class

The only time I’ve experienced class difference is when I see landscapers in my town. The town I live in is a high middle class and the landscapers come about once a week to do whatever it is they do. (cut grass, trim trees, make plants look nice) As many of you may know, the majority of the landscapers are of mexican or other hispanic background. You could say that they differ somewhat in class than the people that live in my neighborhood.  I have many friends that come from the mexican background so I feel nothing different when I see them therefore, I say hi everytime I see them. It is different with my neighbors.  It seems like they tend to avoid them whenever they are in the neighborhood.  I think that is simply because they feel like they are in a class very different from each other.  What if, and I’m pretty sure it’s possible and true, they had a neighbor that was of the mexican or hispanic background?  I’m sure my neighbors would treat them very differently than they treat the landscapers.