I am a Grenade

I am enjoying Jensen's book so far, especially the parts about language.  When we were asked the first week of class to write about what we thought our class position was, I recall thinking of myself as more working class with some middle class values thrown in.  I cited my parent's jobs, the 'culture' and 'art' that came from my paternal grandmother, and schooling.  I never really thought about language as being a sort of class indicator, at least not in the way that Jensen has articulated.

From page 54 to about page 59
Jensen talks about two interactions between different mother-child pairs and how these mothers deal with disciplining their children and how this relates to class.  My mother was a stay-at-home mom who almost always had her nose in one parenting book or another.  I remember that my brother and I were disciplined quite similarly to "Jacob."  I remember my mother saying something like "alright, you can do that, but I don't think we'll be going to the playground later" or something along those lines.  At least, this was how she spoke with us before my parents divorced when I was twelve (and my brother was eight).  After the divorce (and as my mother entered the "working force") we were disciplined more along the lines of "Rashad."  There was a sense of urgency and a "let's not waste any time fucking around" that we grew up with for the later half of our childhoods. 

Coincidentally, this was also the time when I was switched from my private, upper-class Christian schooling to a public schooling system in a working-to-middle-class neighborhood.  No wonder why I became so shy--this was such a class-culture shock for me.  I remember thinking, when I switched schools, about how much easier the curriculum was in the public school system--particularly in  mathematics. While I was considered an average math student in my private school, I was placed into an upper-level group as soon as I was in High School (because they didn't have that in Jr. High).

The most emphasis in my Christian schooling was on Religion, however.  For example, you could earn five extra points on a test (math, science, English--didn't matter) for memorizing the Bible verse of the week.  There was also a great deal of time devoted to a religious "class" that combined and maybe replaced some of the Social Studies and English.  And more points for "Bible Drills" which were speed contests to see who could look up what verse of the Bible the quickest and stand and read it out loud.  Compared to public schools there was also more of an emphasis on the arts--it was mandatory for everyone to participate in art and music class.  I was immediately saddened by how "optional" art classes had become when I entered the public school system.

It was also terrifying to me that there were huge cafeterias in the public schools.  I was used to eating in whatever class I had at the time--everyone brought a lunch and once a week hot lunches could be brought to us (at additional cost).  The private school I went to was also significantly smaller and there were one or two buses for the locals who went there--the majority carpooled.  I don't remember having a library--if there was one, we never went there. 

I just took a peek at their website and holy cow!  Their yearly tuition rates are just shy of $7,000 a year!  That's like...college.  Wow.



I want to say that I have more of a middle-class background, thrust into a working class situation.  I don't know.  Jensen's piece certainly brought all of these things to mind while I read.