Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Social Status

This last week our class learned a lot about social classes and status. We watched a movie that showed the rich, the working class, and the poor.  The part of the movie I enjoyed most was the family from Waverly Ohio. It was about a Tammy and her sons, a poor family and what they think about their class. The oldest boy was kind of the main focal point and he thought of himself as higher class and better than his family. But his mom Tammy kept saying he just thinks like that he's actually the exact same. The oldest boy wanted to graduate high school and go to college to be a lawyer or a architect. Tammy always wanted to be a school teacher. There is always a way to achieve your goals but its really hard for some people. I think that both of them would have a tough time achieving those goals just because they are already in the hole. The son has a better chance though because he could get through schooling and make more money. Tammy has to supply for her children and other things so it would be harder for her to achieve her goal. Once you are in poverty and low class it is very hard to ever get out of it. 


When the older son cleans the house and tries to make himself look nicer he's just kidding himself. It is what is and he cant change it just by cleaning up a little bit. It doesn't hurt anything because it's good that he doesn't just slob it all the time.

High School and Social Class-


High School is a very rough play ground. People form cliques and groups and judgments are made all the time. I'm not really talking about our school right now. But from my point of view at big high schools, things can be rough for some people. Social classes are shown at high school and I think it does kind of fit kids in where they stand. Is that a good thing? I don't think its a good thing. For example, if a kid isn't as fortunate with money and other things as other kids in his school but is very smart. He might not even give himself a chance to build a great life for himself just because the social class he's been put in. 


People at our school are mostly all in the same class. Most everyone in my school are all middle class people. There aren't many cliques formed, I don't think anyone is embarrassed of people they go to school (because of class).


Mixing classes is probably tough for some people that do it. Dating someone who is in a different social class as you or having friends that aren't in the same social class might be tough. There is always movies that show a relationship of a young boy and girl but one is rich and the other is poor. Who is it tougher for? I'd say that both situations would be tough. For the lower class person they would maybe feel uncomfortable spending time with upper class people doing upper class things. The upper class person would maybe not be used to some of the things the lower class person has to do or go through.  I recently went to the movie Endless Love and it gave a good example of all this. There was a very rich girl and a boy who didn't have much. They loved each other but when he first came over for supper the girl's father gave him a hard time because of his social status. The two kids were madly in love and did everything together that summer. But the girls father tried everything to keep them apart just because he wanted his daughter with someone from her social class. I wont ruin the ending for you readers because I know you'll want to watch it.


People judge class on what people own and what things they have. But that's why it's called being judgmental.  A person who makes two hundred thousand dollars a year might want to leave in a trailer house and not want a nice TV or a nice car. Someone who doesn't know them very well might think that person is a low class guy but really he has more money than they do! It all depends on who you are I think. Some people have a lot of money and like to spend it, some have a lot of money and don't spend it. Some people don't have very much money and still spend it, some people don't have very much money and don't spend it. We all think we know because we see but we really don't know.


Are social classes something that as people we just make up?  We don't need to categorize people by how much money they make. It will always happen I know, but the question is why does it happen?



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