Living and Crossing Class

In "Coming to Class Consciousness", Hooks tells a personal story in order to show how people become conscious of their class. In the story, Bell Hooks writes of how she always wanted nice things such as a pretty dress or a good college education, but how she was denied these opportunities from her own family. Her desires were always diminished by her mother. Although her mother may have been trying to not set Hooks up for disappointment, she did it in a very harsh way. Bell started to believe the problem was that she was undeserving of nice things, not that they simply could not afford these nice things.

She talks of the racism she experienced, and how she recognized that the white girls had life much easier. She bonded with other girls of the working class, and her thoughts were expressed how whenever an opportunity came about, she would question how her parents would feel negatively about the opportunity. Like Jensen, Hooks shows how families and communities seem to encircle the same class through generations. Hooks had many opportunities to change classes, but her parents somehow always held her back. This may come from an ultimate respect for the family or an underlying shame for improvement as reflected in "Some General Values of Working Class Culture".

Hooks stories can be seen in the working class today and students may feel like they will only ever be as good as their parents are. Many working class students seem to be forced into the higher education they are in. They may have gotten into better schools, but feared disappointing their family. They may feel like they are leaving their family behind if they move far away or feel as if they should not go to a good school because their family members did not get the opportunity, and therefore, the student does not go as well. I believe that students of all classes seem to be entrapped in this way in their given class. Those of the upper class often remain in the upper class because because their family may always have the means to do so. If their child chooses a career of the middle class such as secretarial work, their parents may still give them the tools to remain in the upper class such as how to choose a proper fitting suit or how to show authority over others even if in a lower scale job. Therefore, opportunities for advancement seem to fall into the laps of those who were born into the upper class while these opportunities are not given to those of other classes. In the most minimal ways, class is encircled.

Class Diary: Engage RI

Upon reading the article "Unions spotlight salaries, contracts of opponents in RI pension war", many issues discussed in class became quite clear. The largest state employees union is currently taking a stance against an organization called Engage RI which has been raising awareness to the issue and pushing pension reform. Upon further examination into this pension reform debate, Engage RI's website seems promising. The website addresses issues such as Rhode Island's retirement system having a deficit of seven billion dollars. In fact, Rhode Island has the least funded retirement system per capita in the United States. It seems that Engage RI would be great leaders for the reform; giving higher pensions to state employees such as teachers and construction workers who deserve retirement benefits for the work they put into making our state a better place. However, the website is vague and states that Engage RI "has a plan", but does not state their plan anywhere in the website.

I then decided to look up some more information about the pension reform and Engage RI as it seemed that the Projo article "Unions spotlight salaries, contracts of opponents in RI pension war" was pointing out flaws in the organization. "Ed Cooney, the Nortek vice-president who co-chairs EngageRI, earned $595,000 in total compensation last year, co-chair Margaret Holland McDuff, the CEO of Family Service of Rhode Island, $187,000, and Crossroads Rhode Island president Anne Nolan, $150,033" (Gregg, Projo). It is no wonder why we have a deficit in pensions if the co-chair of the organization makes well over half a million dollars a year, and the president of a homeless shelter is making the salary of about seventeen teachers.

The Projo article "At the hearing: RI teachers say their pensions have been 'targeted'" states that Engage RI has been pushing for an increase in teachers' retirement to the age of 67. This is an absurd age to retire! While many teachers do teach up to 67, it should not be a requirement. Teaching may seem like an easy job to an outsider, but the duties consist of long hours, hard labor, and dedication to every student. When teachers are off the clock, they are still grading papers, creating curriculums, or coaching sports teams.

We are not a nation where we encourage "working til the death" as that is not a free nation. Engage RI's reforms seem to go against everything this country stands for, although their purpose is cloudy. It is a crisis of our nation when those protecting the working, lower, and middle class are those of the upper class. This is why the rich keep getting richer, and the poor, poorer. We need to protect the citizens who protect us. The teachers who enable us to see the light in learning; the construction workers who pave the roads at 4am so we do not have to dodge potholes on our morning commutes.

Occupy the World

As Occupy is advancing, it is becoming quite clear that this is a movement bigger than most had originally imaged. Occupies are in nearly every city with protesters camping out in places such as Kennedy Plaza. Occupy is now a movement across the world. Everywhere from Hong Kong to Sydney now have protesters, and can be compared to the beginning of the civil rights movement with the protests and race riots.


However, it is not the protesters this time who are seen as violent. Police seem to be more corrupt than ever.

Videos can be seen of protesters being herded like cattle with orange nets, maced, or tackled. "Curfews" are being enforced in many cities where people are not allowed outside after a certain time. Riot police have been organizing raids in the middle of the night; ripping down tents and throwing away all supplies. The media has been blocked from witnessing many of these riot police attacks; showing clear corruption in our system. When the government is supporting the 1 percent, and trashing the belongings of the 99 percent; there is clear tyranny. The protesters see this as a battle between classes; however, when the class system is a majority of the lower and middle class and a tiny minority of upper class; this become an issue for democracy. Those who are in the top 1 percent not only hold the majority of wealth, but if we don't do anything; the majority of power. When this happens, class is reproduced as it makes it quite difficult for anyone to change classes. We can no longer "pull ourselves up from the boot straps" as the "All American Dream" entails.

I believe the solution is in what Occupy has been doing this whole movement; raising awareness. Very few people knew of the shocking statistics of the growing poor and working classes. People did not know that majority of wealth is in the hands of a few people. Now that it is becoming clear, more people are joining the movement. Through the rise of awareness, will come justice. These protesters are the voice of our citizens.

Equalizing or Reproducing Class: Education

“Regardless of whether a child living in poverty wants to learn, regardless of whether she’s determined to make the best life for herself, she must first overcome barriers to life’s basic needs- the kinds of needs that the middle-class people, including most professional educators, usually take for granted: access to healthcare; sufficient food and lodging; reasonable safe living conditions” (Gorski 1). Upon reading Gorski, I started to remember a time in my life when I first started to recognize how many lives are changed because of class. When I was in eighth grade, my sister who was in seventh grade had a best friend who my family grew to love. She would come over for the day, but her mother would never come to pick her up. My parents would ask her when her mother was coming, and after seeing the girl frantically trying to reach her mother, they offered to bring her home.

We lived in a nice suburban town with only a few homes of obvious low income. Her house's porch had half-fallen off, the roof was covered in moss, and the driveway looked like a junkyard. We later found out her white mother was a prostitute at the nearby casinos and her black father had been incarcerated since she was an infant. She had dreams of going to college and becoming much more than what she was born into. My parents took her and her younger sister in for about a year after the mother signed away custody as her addictions and threatening life prevented her from taking care of herself, let alone her children. They each owned less than three outfits; their eyes widened at the glance of a home cooked meal.

These things seem so far fetched to even the middle-class, but are all around us. How could we as a society let this happen to our future? We always think that these scenarios are not happening in our neighborhood; they would never happen to a child. Gorski argues that we need to stop blaming those in poverty, and try to get an understanding of what it is like to be poor. When children of poverty see these negative views towards poverty, they may start to feel like they are the problem, and that they are stuck in poverty, giving up their motivation. Both girls are now attending college, but without the their inner drive and my parents' encouragement and support, who knows if they too would have fallen into the vicious cycle of poverty.

Our friend had fallen through the cracks. She had never heard of financial aid or scholarships. She loved to read, but never had books, and was to embarrassed to ask for help finding the ones she wanted at the school library. We all went to the same school; how could this be? I had learned these things at school. My parents told me to find scholarship opportunities, and I did through utilizing the school's career center. The librarians taught me how to find a book with the Dewey decimal system then I was taught how to use the computer generated system multiple times in my education. Was I taught a hidden curriculum as Anyon suggests?

“Bowles and Gintls (1967), for example, have argued that students from different social backgrounds are rewarded for classroom behaviors that correspond to personality traits allegedly rewarded in different occupational strata- the working classes for docility and obedience, the managerial classes for initiative and personal assertiveness” (Anyon 67). This made me wonder what were the class giveaways? Was it the difference in our skin tones, clothing, or confidence? It could even be all of these, or something completely different. Somehow I was privileged and so was my family, but her family spiraled downwards from the start. Her black father seemed to never have been given a chance as the United States is quick to lock up black males once they are seen as "problematic". Her single mother was on her own with two infants and little opportunity. She tried all that she could, but the employment she was forced into consumed her. I was always encouraged to ask questions; to voice my opinion. The other girl was shy and timid when it came to seeking assistance. I know she paid attention in school; were these aspects of cultural capital given to me, but not to her? It seems as if her teachers had assumed she would never go to college, and did not bother to teach her these skills. How could this happen in a "land of equal opportunity"?