social class meme

[alonewiththemoon]

Bold text is yes, unbolded is no

Father went to college--first generation in family to do so
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor  --I think I have a cousin who is a lawyer
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers - I never thought about it, so probably same?
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 - violin, sculpting--but I paid for them myself once I started working, around 15 or so
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 --see above
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively - while growing up, I'd have to say no, because our family was decidedly nerdy and I did not see many people on tv who were like us.  Not sure that's about class, though.
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 - inheritance
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp - I went to Girl Scout day camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels --ha, no, family vacations involved going to Scranton and watching everybody fight
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18-- nope, I was the oldest child but handmedowns came from cousins
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 -- if things we made ourselves count, yes, if not, no.  Oh, there was a Miro lithograph, does a signed and numbered lithograph count as original art?
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 --though they had to take out a second mortgage on it to send me to college
You had your own room as a child  --but for the record, it had no heat
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 -- I spent many many hours at the Harvard Museums
You were unaware of how much heating cooling bills were for your family  --dollar amount, no, but that it was expensive and that we apparently couldn't afford to be warm, yes.

Strange list of questions, really.  And I think somewhat dated.  Back when I was a kid, museums and art galleries were cheap entertainment, whereas today it is quite expensive to take a whole family to say the Museum of Science.  And summer camps run a full gamut of pricing and purposes--Girl Scout camp is not the same as Space Camp, you know?

Comments

[spitcurl.livejournal.com]

Oh, there was a Miro lithograph, does a signed and numbered lithograph count as original art?

Yes. :)

[alonewiththemoon]

That's still a treasured possession at my parents' house, I forget the exact title but it depicted a boy and a dog. As much as Miro's work depicts anything specific ;)

[nepenthedreams]

Yes, I agree.
I went to 4H camp. Some of the kids were like me. Others were from group homes. It was a mix. Social class had nothign to do with it. And the museums were free on certain days, and that's when we'd go to them.


The list of questions was strange. For example, it assumes that the parents believed cruises were a good vacation. Worth spending your money on if you have it. But I disagree. My mom and I didn't do cruises but we could still afford to go on vacation (sometimes, not nearly as much as I do now). We went on vacation to places like Montreal and NYC (to see more museums and churches and historic sites)

[alonewiththemoon]

For us, cruises were what my grandmother with her best friend the travel agent went on--they sounded dreadfully dull to me and my brother and we thought they entirely consisted of old people.

To date, the only time I've been on a cruise ship was when I took one of the Princess Lines ships home from Alaska, but I just bought a deck ticket, not a cabin space. For your ticket, you were entitled to one lounge chair on the deck underneath a heated canopy for the three and a half day trip. That was pretty darn interesting from an anthropological point of view though, the deck people were a mix of fishermen, loggers, Native Alaskans visiting family down in the lower 48, college kids traveling the world, seasonal Forest Service employees (that was me), people from every walk of life it seemed. I don't think it would be that safe for a woman to do alone but as I was with a couple of guys (a boyfriend and his brother) I felt safe.

[nepenthedreams]

That sounds like a really cool trip! I love sleeping on deck. When I went on an overnight boat trip in Vietnam, we slept on the deck rather than the roach-filled cabins. It was perfect. Til it rained. Then we had to join the roaches.