I am not sure when I first became aware of class but in high shcool it became more obvious. The high school I went to was in my town but three other surrounding town went to it as well. One of these towns had the stereotype of being of a lower social class. Most all of the towns were comprised of middle-class families but there were also some slightly upper-class kids too. The one “lower class” town was looked down upon, it had a certain stigma about it.
Thinking back, I don’t think that it was right that the town had that image but it was easier to ignore because everyone else wasn’t that much better off than the people of the singled out town. Watching the video, People Like Us, I realized how much like high school classism is. Therefore, I believe that in high school we collectively singled out a town and many of the kids from that town so that the collective as a whole would feel better about ourselves. That’s what happens today.
It was sad watching the video of the upper class people because it seemed as though that was all there was to their life. The middle-class people who were in the dive bar seemed to at least be real and comfortable with who they were. I’m not sure how to encourage discussion because it seems as though many belonging to the upper class do not desire to change their ways. These people feel entitled to what they have. That can be proven to be very difficult in breaking. It would be interesting to see more discussion but I think it is more challenging than people think.
I think that your post is really interesting, as I also grew up getting educated in a high school that was for two towns. One of the towns was seen as low class, the other high class. When I think about my experience growing up, I do not ever remember hearing anything or seeing any oppression because of class take place. I was just talking to my brother about this the other day, as one of our friends want to move from the low class town to the high one, and both him and I agreed we never faced or saw any discrimination because of the town the teen, or ourselves, were from.
ReplyDeleteThere was the columnist, R. Couri Hay, at the party asking all those people questions and he really seemed like he was getting a couple individuals uncomfortable. One or two people gave this non-verbal “please don’t publicly talk about my achievements.” I felt the peer groups in my high school didn’t want to acknowledge the cliques, but like the columnist, there was one guy in my class who could point out the cliques and the discomfort of the reveal could be felt.
ReplyDeleteMy High School was also like that.It always bothered me because the students from the "richer" town acted like they ruled the school, when all in all they probably got worst grades then the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your high school experience because I experienced something very similar. It seems like in high school everyone is sort of figuring out their identity but it's easier to be like everyone else than to risk being different. Those who were too afraid to be themselves picked on those who dared to be different. I'll admit that this system sort of brainwashed me into wanting to be like everyone else to avoid the risk of being singled out. Looking back I feel sort of pathetic that I succumbed to this system.
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