The Separations of Classes

I grew up in a low economic class all my childhood. I had free or reduced lunches paid for by the government, food from the bishops storehouse, and hand me downs from strangers. I remember as a child be mocked for my ripped jeans even though they were the only ones that fit me right.

I always felt separated from my peers unless they fit in my social class because others would look down on me or pity me rather than see my true potential. It wasn't until I transferred to a charter school freshman year of high school that things began to change.

At this charter school, we had to wear designated uniforms to help us be more unified. I heard a lot of criticism about uniforms and how they mute individuality and expressions. That they were pointless and were bland. Even though the charter school was tuition-free, uniforms were very costly and my family had to work extra hard to pay for it. However, something amazing happened when I started to attend school.

No one has ever judged me for my clothes ever again! In fact, a popular girl who came from a rich family that I knew in public school and never associated with me, reintroduced herself to me and we became good friends in this charter school. She didn't even know me in public school because of my social class but now we get along because it is no longer apparent due to us all wearing the same uniforms.

It was an amazing change from the life I had been living for the previous 14 years! I was able to make the friends I wanted to who I late understood my financial challenges but had a friendship to base it off of first. My grades went up, I was given an abundance of opportunities usually not offered to people like me, people of low economic standings. Plus I wore essentially the same uniforms all four years rather than having to purchase more clothes every year.

I was never bitter with my class, my mother raised me to be grateful for everything we were given. She had it worse than I probably ever will. She was an immigrant from Mexico. Sometimes she would starve, she had literally nothing, was susceptible to abuse, and was judged as a young teenager for nothing that had to do with her. It saddens my heart to know all the things that she had to go through but she was resilient.

Families can either grow stronger or fall apart because of economic classes. Where it really matters is the strength of the family and the relationships and roles therein. I believe that any family can make it through any trials or tribulations given strong roles and bonds. And where does that start? The parent's relationship. A family can only be as strong as the marriage.

Some questions to consider could be:

Do the parents come from similar backgrounds such as economic classes, values, or religion?

Do they believe that they could reach the next tier of economic class or are they stuck?

Do you have goals in life and how are you moving towards them?

These questions are some that I thought would be helpful for couples whether already married, dating and so many more. The questions came to my mind as a watched the documentary about Tammy a single mother in poverty. I felt like she was stuck in preconceived ideas and had dreams without a plan to achieve them. That is why a growth mindset can open up worlds of improvement.

The classes can be separating but that is not what should be focused on. It should be focused on how we can better strengthen the families in each class because not even the upper-class families are perfect.