Thursday, January 24, 2008

Privileges Meme

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 blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.

I added five life advantages to the end that were important for me. I think it'd be interesting to see what other people add to the list. Consider yourself tagged if this one interests you!

Bold the true statements.
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
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.
9. Were read children's books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
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
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
25. You had your own room as a child
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high schoo
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
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
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family
(This last one is funny to me, because we spent the majority of our childhood winters discussing the heating bill and why we people needed to stop fiddling with the thermostat!)

Here are five things not included in the list that I think were primary advantages for me:

1. I grew up with many brothers and sisters.
2. We were always close to our large extended family.
3. My Dad's love of learning was contagious.
4. My Mom's love and devotion to family was contagious.
5. We were brought up to know, love, and serve God in the Catholic Church.

H/T Esther at A Catholic Mom in Hawaii, where I saw it first.

4 comments:

Shosannah said...

This is really interesting!
A good way of looking at things, counting blessings and feeling grateful.
It definatly gave me food for thought.
By the Way I'm loving your header series. Your current picture is so serene.
Blessings
Suzy

Soutenus said...

I will be posting this at Spot Those Turns soon. I am tweaking it to target both my students' stage of life and teachers stage of life.
Interesting - a good dicussion starter in class.
I LOVE how you added the things that made you feel you came from a priviledged background.
I have read this on many blogs and have found some people almost "competing" to show underpriviledge.
I like the focus on family and faith.

I may guide the kids into "what is priledge? Society's definition, your definition, your favorite adult's definition, etc." OHHHH this could turn into a whole project.

Wendy Hill said...

Thanks for sharing this meme. I had never done a meme before (only started blogging in Jan), but this one made me realize how privileged I am. I posted my own version on www.ofbooksandboys.blogspot.com

Lisa said...

Suzy ~ This was interesting, wasn't it? I'm glad you like the pictures! I loved taking them, and it's fun to see them in the "big picture" header on top there! *&:o)

Peggy ~ I've been looking on your wrong blog to find your meme! I knew you were doing them, though, so was looking. I'll pop over there to Spot Those Turns! You touch on a very interesting point, asking "What do YOU consider privileges?" Many of the things in the meme were the world's idea of privileges, but not the Church's for sure! You have such a lucky class! I'd have loved you to be my teacher!


Hi, Wendy! It's so good to meet you! I'll be running over to your blog this afternoon to read your meme. I finally have a block of time to myself this afternoon (It's Sat. and I'm looking forward to the little boys' naps later!), so I won't be trying to squeeze five minutes at a time squeezing in my daily blog reading! &:o)