In fact America is a country divided by class with multiple social variations. From the measures of look, population, money, prosperity and parent’s wealth; a person’s social class affects how he/she is perceived by other people. Even though a person’s socioeconomic status doesn’t automatically interpret who they would become in the future, economical hard ship can affect the internal representation of ourselves and how you see the world. Social class has an impact on communication. In terms of communicating with other people, there is a line that distinguish higher, middle and lower class people in the way we communicate with each other. With this difference, people in the lower class need to demonstrate a lot of potential and also have some kind of common interest in order for people in a higher class to even consider them. Example, a person from a lower socioeconomic status asked to make a presentation to a group of people from a higher social class may feel intimidated even if his/her is very confident with his skills.
A lot of children from the working-class families are forced to change their dreams because they get overwhelmed with the struggle it takes to bring their dreams into reality. “Part of the decision to attend college involves answering the question, how am I going to pay for this?’ (Falcon 4). I will use my situation as an example, during my final year in high school, my peers and I decided that we would go to the same college right out of high school and be on our own for the first time. But my plans changed when my father sat me down one day after he came home from work to discuss with me what I would like to do after graduation. He wants me to have a better life than he had but financially it was very hard for our family. I told him that I wanted to go to university when I graduate from high school but after our conversation, I decided that I will go to a community college as a part time student and also work so that I can support him and continue with my education. As difficult as it was to accept it, I knew that college was the only way that I can get a better job in the future.
As we move through life, we start to separate ourselves from people who we don’t fit don’t fit in our social class. “First-generation college students may feel uncomfortable in the collegiate atmosphere” that consist of students from an elite background (How Social Class Divides Us, 2009). They may have a different level of college readiness and may feel alone sometimes. During this phase the student may develop a lower self-esteem and that may affect how they interact with themselves and other students. The students who know what they are doing may look down on such students.
First generation students are mostly from a lower socioeconomic class and have a minority cultural background. Without having a prestigious socioeconomic class a person’s voice are never heard. A lot of children who are bullied in schools are from the working-class families. In the article Breaking Down Barriers: First-Generation College Students and College Success written by Lauren Falcon, students have “reason for limited communication and interactions among peers and faculty include the absence of similar interests, experiences, and resources”. This dissimilarities can decrease the self-esteem of the student as they are fitting into the college setting. I wouldn’t drive a Volvo. Volvo is plumpish, middle age, middle class woman, with too many children, an uncontrolled dog. I certainly wouldn’t drive a ford. It’s probably stolen. When you hear someone talk like this, it can distance you from them or bring them together because not everybody can buy expensive artifacts so when you talk down on.
Most people from a lower socioeconomic background are faced with deciding whether they want to continue their education after high school or enter the work force right after graduation. . People from a lower socio economic mostly have parents who are “unfamiliar with the rigor and expectations of the college curriculum and at times unwilling, to help their child to adequately prepare for college” (Falcon 2). Most of these parents send their kids to a school without doing any background research. The only thing they consider is how far the school is located from home. They work double shifts every day and have no time to talk to their children about their school life. An educated parent is very much involved in their child’s education because they have been there before and are willing to provide for them. They make sure their child’s academic performance is progressing. When this happens the student has to rely completely on high school counselors and other students who know what they are doing for information and guidance. This become problematic since the student spend less time talking with their counselor about their college aspirations because the counselors have to deal with other students as well. Whereas students with college-educated parents get a double benefit, they may be forced to depend on themselves for their academic success. Whilst it’s not impossible to climb up the corporate ladder, it demands a lot of effort which pave way for cultural, physical and psychological restraint that people who haven’t being through poverty encounter. Penury has a deep rooted effect that can impede on the individual’s potential to be upwardly mobile. Socioeconomic status is in no doubt one of the foundations for inequalities in America.
