Define privaledged

[linda_joyce]

Answered as vilakins altered them except where I’ve italicised the question as being ambiguous.


She changed 'college' to 'university' and struck out those questions that don't apply outside the US. Actually I was fairly privileged compared to many in this country, though it may not look like it to Americanscans or aynone under 50 in the UK who reads this. Life changed beyond comparison in the late 60s in the Welsh valleys.

Bold the true statements.

1. Father went to university
2. Father finished university
3. Mother went to university
4. Mother finished university
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor (A cousin who is a barrister)
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home(Not necessarily at one time but as soon as I was allowed to I was taken to the library and enrolled. I had 2 books a fortnight from 5 to 14. During my O and A level years reading for pleasure was reduced
9. Were read children's books by a parent (Both parents and maternal Grandparents but mostly my maternal Grandfather, I learned to read from following the words that were read to me, mostly by him.)
10. Had [out of school] lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of [out of school] lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.(Wrong on account of my Welshness. Ever heard the rhyme Taffy was a Welshman Taffy was a thief. Taffy came to our house and stole a side of beef . Also growing up female in the 50s didn’t give me any good role models with the possible exception of the queen. But growing up Welsh helped to counter that, we were a matriarchal society even as late as the 60s.
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18(You weren't allowed one before you were 21 in my young day and only if youi were rich enough not to need one.)
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your university costs. (Neither my Local Council did in Tutorial and generous living grants)
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your university costs.(See above)
16. Went to a private high school (Nope)
17. Went to summer camp
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18.
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
23. You and your family lived in a single family house.Mam and Dad moved in with Mam’s parents when they married and remained in the same house for the rest of their lives so technically we were a single family home just and extended one.)
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.(My parents bought this house in my second year at college but since I was still returning home and being kept in food and clothes by them until got my first job I don’t consider myself to have left home at that time. They had owned the house for 6 years before I actually moved out but I had been paying my way for 3 of those years.}
25 had your own room as a child.
26 You had a phone in your room before you turned 18. (We didn't even have a telephine in our home until I was 19)
27 Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course.
28. Had your own TV in your room in High School.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College.
30.Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16(Aged 11 I flew to Dublin in an Aer Lingus turboprop to visit my cousin Pat and her family. I was accompanied by Beth(13) and Jill (an adult)
31 Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family?
33.Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.(Oh yes, if I hadn’t been taken to Cardiff museum at least twice a year I felt very baddly done by, it was my favourite birthday treat. I would also like to mention castles, stately homes and religious ruins were included in trips every year.
34 You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

I think I was very privileged for my age and generation, I had adults who loved me, I never went hungry, thirsty ,dirty(for very long) or clothed in hand me downs that looked as if they were. I had a secure roof over my head and got as many treats as I deserved and and as much discipline as I needed, not all my friends and neighbours were that lucky.


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, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.)

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You left in my comment: "Actually I was fairly privileged compared to many in this country, though it may not look like it to Americans who read this." Did you mean to? :-) Also, you didn't strike out 17, 27 and 29.

And of course you had your own room; you were an only child! I had to share with my sister and we fought constantly. :-( I had nowhere to go to escape her.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Well no I didn't but it is as true of my early life as it is of yours, though perhaps I should have added 'and anyone under 50 in the UK' to that too. By the late 60s life had changed out of all recognition. I forgot to replace the strikethroughs for those questions, I have a tendency to forget that although copy and paste brings lj as seen to Word the opposite doesn't happen.

Being an 'only' was a privilege I had not thought of til now. As it happens all my friends were only girls in a family of boys, or like Beth the last living at home, so we all had our own rooms, it just didn't strike me as unusual

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

You beat me on #5 and #30, but I beat you on #10. The church hall over the road had someone teaching ballroom dancing and I went with Brenda, my friend from next door, for a couple of years. And I was sent to swimming lessons because my parents thought it was a useful skill (after all, I might have fallen into the canal)

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

And I was sent to swimming
We usually learned by falling into the canal%P. Seriously though we were taken to the outside swimming pool by the school from 7 to 11.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

We didn't get swimming with the school. And you wouldn't want to fall into our canals, though yours probably weren't any better.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Six inches of 'god only knows what on the bottom, duck weed and other fresh water algae at varying levels in the water and full of mossie young, ducks, coots and moorhens. With the odd old pram and bicycle frame just for decoration you mean?

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Remove the wildlife, add a top layer of oil and a strange colour because of the factory outlets.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Yep the Newport end of the canal was like that, only more old prams and bike frames.