What first struck me about class differences at Carleton was when I was in Russian class.We were learning countries and occupations, and everyone was to say "I have been to x place" and it was then that I learned I was the only person in my class who had never been to Europe. And then when occupations came around, everyone was saying "My dad's a lawyer" and "My mom's a professor" and I was a little embarrassed to say "My mom's . . . a secretary."
My family is--technically, by income brackets--lower-middle class. My parents always add the "technically" because they think saying it like that is complaining about our lot, when we're really getting along fine, and have ample amounts to live on comfortably. We continually resent having to spend more than 10 dollars per person on meals, and dine out relatively rarely. We don't have iPhones but we make up for that by going on lots of tiny one-or-two-night road trips. My mom knows how to make the most of what we have.
I don't know quite what I was expecting, coming to Carleton. Clearly, we needed lots of help to afford it. Was that the case with most students, or were the majority the children of richer families, whose ambition to attend such a prestigious, pricey place was a matter of course, not a strange but luckily- possible ambition? I still don't know for sure. Class isn't something that's apparent in every conversation. Sometimes it'll come up incidentally--"I had this cleaning lady," "when I was vacationing in Italy," and the like, but it rarely seems to become the main subject of conversation. Sometimes I notice when I'm being more of a tightwad with my money than my peers, sometimes I wonder how our backgrounds have shaped our attitudes about higher education, ambition, and work ethic, and never know quite how to ask. In comparison to race, gender, and LGBT issues, class does not get talked about much at Carleton, which is a shame, as it's certainly an important difference in the identities of our student body.
- Anonymous
My family is--technically, by income brackets--lower-middle class. My parents always add the "technically" because they think saying it like that is complaining about our lot, when we're really getting along fine, and have ample amounts to live on comfortably. We continually resent having to spend more than 10 dollars per person on meals, and dine out relatively rarely. We don't have iPhones but we make up for that by going on lots of tiny one-or-two-night road trips. My mom knows how to make the most of what we have.
I don't know quite what I was expecting, coming to Carleton. Clearly, we needed lots of help to afford it. Was that the case with most students, or were the majority the children of richer families, whose ambition to attend such a prestigious, pricey place was a matter of course, not a strange but luckily- possible ambition? I still don't know for sure. Class isn't something that's apparent in every conversation. Sometimes it'll come up incidentally--"I had this cleaning lady," "when I was vacationing in Italy," and the like, but it rarely seems to become the main subject of conversation. Sometimes I notice when I'm being more of a tightwad with my money than my peers, sometimes I wonder how our backgrounds have shaped our attitudes about higher education, ambition, and work ethic, and never know quite how to ask. In comparison to race, gender, and LGBT issues, class does not get talked about much at Carleton, which is a shame, as it's certainly an important difference in the identities of our student body.
- Anonymous