Social Stratification

In my sociology class we talked about the "lower class" today. We sat in our class that we pay 45 grand a year to attend and we talked about the poor people who work minimum wage jobs. The people who live pay check to pay check and have little or nothing to save at the end of each month. We talked about trailer parks and public schools and manual labor. I sat back and thought about what this unit would be like at Cedarcrest High School. If there was a Sociology class in Carnation, Washington would there be a need to explain the difficulty of living in a small home, or having to work at a young age, or the difficulty of some families to send their kids to college? While I know CHS has many who are very fortunate and financially secure, I find it hard to imagine your average Valley teen having to be taught these things with so many of our friends and family in these exact positions. So, in a sense my Sociology class at the affluent private school of Santa Clara is geared toward a different "social class" than it would be in the Valley back home. The curriculum would be completely different, from a completely different perspective. Talking about the "lower class" in Carnation would be discussing inner city projects or homeless people. It's times like these that I really realize what a different culture I am surrounded by here in the Silicone Valley. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. I think its an important thing for people to talk about, but I never fail to be surprised by some people's blinders. The wall in front of their faces that doesn't allow them to see past their own "class." It was interesting how many people in the class hadn't really thought about how hard it is for some people. I'm glad they are taking a class to open expand their horizons. Don't worry, I'm learning too. Every day I learn more and more about my own perspective and how skewed some of the things I look at are. I'm glad I'm here too:)