Confessions from the Privileged Class

                Raised in family where I personally saw and experience the climb from lower to upper-middle class the wide sweeping term of privileged class always makes my spine stiffen just a little. A mixture of my own pride and an admiration of what my parents accomplished through hard work and devotion elicit this reaction. Coming into college my arrogance made me want to prove that I was not here as a simple status quo, but a combination of my own hard earned money and my parents emphasis on the ability of perseverance and  determination to accomplish anything. My perspective slowly began to change. Volunteering in a few after school programs in Asheville and working for Room in the Inn my eyes began to open. Honestly it was not really a pleasant experience. I preferred viewing myself as a poor college student working my way through school ignorant of my true place of privilege.

The ‘oh what the hell was I thinking moment’ came when I began the Big Brother Big Sister Program. I quickly realized I had no real interaction with true class disparity. There countless times and examples where I have seen the barriers facing my little and her family. The experience has been incredibly humbling and educational. The conflict with how to approach the sometimes incredible guilt I feel has been challenging. My initial arrogance to the term privileged class seems so ridiculous now. Looking up the word privilege, several definitions come up. I prefer the term as a noun, a privilege: is a right or advantage gained by birth, social position, effort, or concession. It can have either legal or personal sanction. My god, what have I been thinking for years blindly defending my exclusion from the privileged class? The number of opportunities and support I have squarely puts me in a place of advantage. It is what I do with this blessing of opportunity that shapes my character rather than ruminating on how I got there.

With this perspective I think Kozol’s aggressive tone was frustrating. Maybe it was Kozol’s voice that annoyed me or his lack of solution for many problems presented. The disparity in the education system between class and ethnicities is discouraging and horrible. In Shame of the Nation this is made clear, but Kozol does not address several issues. I do not disagree with what he is saying, but sometimes wonder what his goals are for the book; to illicit shame or create change. Maybe he hopes one will induce the other. I feel that by addressing segregation in school he ignores how specifically this segregation occurs. Have neighborhoods become more segregated, is it a reflection of racism, or problems in job disparity. He does not address how property tax effects public school funding. He seems to criticizing the by-product of a segregated America, and addressing or identifying the root of this segregation would seem to help. I wish he had offered a positive example of a public school system in a country with a history of racism. These questions raised by Kozol’s book are likely intended to spur conversation and awareness to the problem. The problem is that Kozol book openly puts shame on the reader. This shame and guilt I believe is a short motivating factor. I can think of few things that I have done out of shame that have lasted long.