I pulled this off of another blog I read. It is based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. (If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.)
Directions: Bold the statements that apply to you.
1. Father went to college.
2. Father finished college.
3. Mother went to college.
4. Mother finished college.
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher social class than your high school teachers. (Since my mom *is* a high school teacher, I suppose this applies, but in actuality, I think we were probably slightly lower income-wise than most of my teachers. Definitely we lived in a less expensive area.)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. (Probably not, not that I ever counted. I'm guessing we had around 200. But we had library cards and weren't afraid to use them.)
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 positively.
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.
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. (If day camp for girl scouts counts.)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. (nope, camping usually, or staying with relatives)
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. (Not even a hand me down; bought my own at age 22.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house.
24. Your parents owned their own house or apartment before you left home. (Discounting that portion that the bank technically owns...)
25. You had your own room as a child. (Some of the time. Like for the last 3 years of high school. Before that I shared. Except when I was a baby before the siblings were born.)
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course. (Taught one though when I was in college.)
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. (To a gymnastics meet in Idaho. And I think one in Arizona.)
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. (Stuttgart, AR has a small museum which we did go to - http://www.stuttgartmuseum.org/ - but not art galleries, and no museums that I can think of once we moved to CA. Except for school field trips.)
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (Technically, this is true. But also we lived in CA from when I was 11. And while I couldn't say what our cooling bills were, I definitely knew that the AC wasn't going on unless outside temperatures hit 100. So I'm not bolding this as, in general, I *was* aware of utility costs and of the family efforts to keep them low.)
