quizzicalsphinx 's livejournal, this meme seems to be incredibly biased not only culturally but also in terms of the priorities that the people who wrote it assume for other people, and how they expect everyone has the same priorities they do, or that they assume that people of a certain class all act the same way. Part of the reason I'm doing this is because I know that I am from a privileged background, but I feel that my parents' priorities and my own affect the outcome of this survey more than my background. I think I'm ticking a lot less of these than they expect someone 'privileged' to bold.
From What Privileges Do You Have?, 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.
Bold what applies etc.
Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor This question in itself shows a tremendous bias in favor of academics as most people would not necessarily put "College Professor" on the same line as "Doctor" and "Lawyer."
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers I think that this is another very biased question and it's one that assumes all high school kids are observant enough to make this call, or that the teachers aren't careful enough to mask their class standing in a poorer school. I was not a higher class than my teachers but definitely the same class as my teachers. This would be a better question if it just asked 'higher class' because it says more about someone who assumes teachers are of a lower class than they are regardless of whether the teachers actually are. I understand the intent of this question, but I think it fails.
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home I don't know for sure, but I know we had over two hundred.
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively -- I'm a Long Islander. We have never been portrayed positively by the media.
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
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels - rarely, but they did once in a while. Usually they involved staying with relatives.
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 - All of my clothing was handmade or hand-me-down until I turned about ten. Sometimes I got new clothing as a gift from relatives.
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them- I have never driven.
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 - a phone but not a phone line, installed for my 16th birthday. Which was actually my mother putting a ten-year-old rotary phone in my bedroom because she was sick of me locking people out of her bedroom to talk about boys.
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child -- I had my own room most of the time. We had a lot of different people living with us at different times throughout my childhood, and because of that, I had my own bedroom when there weren't other little girls living with us.
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 -New Orleans once, Florida twice. The New Orleans one was paid by my father's company.
Went on a cruise with your family - My father worked for a cruise ship company. I have still never been on a cruise.
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family - My father started showing me bills for regular household items when I was about seven and explained how much it cost to run the air conditioner, the heat, how much to buy gas for the car, and how much to leave lights on. If I left lights on or needed a ride anywhere, it came out of my allowance.
