I've known that my family has a lot of privilege for as long as I can remember--I remember filling out a survey when I was about 10 and asking which income level for my family I should fill out and my dad told me to circle the highest one on the sheet. I had no concept of what "250,000 +" a year meant; I still have a hard time conceptualizing dollar amounts.
I remember my brother and I joking about the fact that if my dad died, we would be millionaires from his life insurance, then hoping desperately that he would not die.
I travelled the world as a kid, with trips every other year to Asia, South America, Europe. I loved every second of those trips, and we prided ourselves for staying with family rather than in hotels. Our family members showed us around to the smaller places.
My family paid for Carleton with no financial aid.
These things have sometimes made me feel vaguely embarrassed, but mostly they don't. I knew I had privilege, but it never really hit me what that meant.
The first time that I realized some of the impacts that my class privilege has had on my life was during a conversation with an adult in the Northfield, non-Carleton, community. She was going back to school soon to get her nursing degree and had a young child, and they were struggling financially. She asked me what I was majoring in, and I told her, and she asked what I was planning to do with that major.
And I felt so awkward, because I just . . . people have asked me that ALL the time, and usually I have been frustrated and replied with things like "My undergraduate degree doesn't matter--I'll either have to go to grad school to work in whatever field or get a job that will take any degree" or "I'm going to college to learn about myself."
And those are things I truly believe--I don't want a career path, and I don't want a traditional career, and I am not focused on making money. I trust that I will be able to make a way for myself, in a lifestyle very different from that of my parents. But, I know that I will have financial support if I fail. And I know that my parents have had advantages that have allowed them to pass on information, shortcuts, unearned privilege, etc. on to me.
I hadn't realized until that moment, when I couldn't bring myself to admit to this woman that I was going to college because I wanted to, with no career path in mind, how much of a privilege it is to go to college to learn how to learn.
I remember my brother and I joking about the fact that if my dad died, we would be millionaires from his life insurance, then hoping desperately that he would not die.
I travelled the world as a kid, with trips every other year to Asia, South America, Europe. I loved every second of those trips, and we prided ourselves for staying with family rather than in hotels. Our family members showed us around to the smaller places.
My family paid for Carleton with no financial aid.
These things have sometimes made me feel vaguely embarrassed, but mostly they don't. I knew I had privilege, but it never really hit me what that meant.
The first time that I realized some of the impacts that my class privilege has had on my life was during a conversation with an adult in the Northfield, non-Carleton, community. She was going back to school soon to get her nursing degree and had a young child, and they were struggling financially. She asked me what I was majoring in, and I told her, and she asked what I was planning to do with that major.
And I felt so awkward, because I just . . . people have asked me that ALL the time, and usually I have been frustrated and replied with things like "My undergraduate degree doesn't matter--I'll either have to go to grad school to work in whatever field or get a job that will take any degree" or "I'm going to college to learn about myself."
And those are things I truly believe--I don't want a career path, and I don't want a traditional career, and I am not focused on making money. I trust that I will be able to make a way for myself, in a lifestyle very different from that of my parents. But, I know that I will have financial support if I fail. And I know that my parents have had advantages that have allowed them to pass on information, shortcuts, unearned privilege, etc. on to me.
I hadn't realized until that moment, when I couldn't bring myself to admit to this woman that I was going to college because I wanted to, with no career path in mind, how much of a privilege it is to go to college to learn how to learn.