Point of Privilege

So last week I saw this piece by John Scalzi shredding some perfesserdude's concept of "privilege". Now, it seems to have been turned into a meme, which I am hereby stealing (but without a cool title like McGehee and Dustbury have - and BTW, be sure to check out the first comment at Dustbury).

But first, a legal disclaimer:

Premise: bold each of the statements that applies.

Original source: The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

So noted, and if anyone wants to participate, please do the same.

And now on to the list:

Father went to college

Father finished college

Mother went to college [Though not a four-year college]

Mother finished college [ibid]

Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor [Three for three, assuming a more distant relation than first cousin counts; of course, I've only met one and that only a few years ago so it didn't really affect me when I was little]

Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers

Had more than 50 books in your childhood home

Had more than 500 books in your childhood home [I eventually collected that many before I got out of high school]

Were read children’s books by a parent

Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 [Like McGehee, I assume swimming lessons don't count]

Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18

The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively [If you count Dilbert as "positive"]

Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18 [Didn't have a credit card till I was well into my 20s]

Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs [At least I think it was a majority, there were scholarships and student loans involved also]

Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs

Went to a private high school [Not even sure my town HAD a private high school besides the one Catholic school]

Went to summer camp [If you count Boy Scouts]

Had a private tutor before you turned 18 [Shee-yit. I was the tutor but I stupidly did it for free]

Family vacations involved staying at hotels [Putting this down as a no. Stayed at a motel or two and once a weekend in Vegas, but nearly all family vacations were either camping or visiting relatives]

Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 [I was the oldest so they pretty much had to be]

Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them [Tooled off to college in my Mom's 1969 Pontiac station wagon. Don't laugh, that bad boy could flat fly]

There was original art in your house when you were a child

Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 [Not my own number, there was an extra jack in the room and I bought a used phone at the flea market]

You and your family lived in a single family house

Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home

You had your own room as a child [Not all the time, but from about 6th grade or thereabouts]

Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course [Hell, I don't think they even existed then]

Had your own TV in your room in High School

Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College [???]

Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 [Twice.]

Went on a cruise with your family [Didn't go on a cruise until I was forty]

Went on more than one cruise with your family

Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up

You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family [I don't know how much the bills were but I know religion was involved]

Posted by Ken S at January 10, 2008 12:35 PM | TrackBack (0) |