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Class in America: Myths
and Realities by Gregory Mantsios was an interesting read. Some of the things
he wrote about, I already knew, however, it furthered my knowledge. In
this reading, Mantsios discussed how Americans avoid talking about class so
conflict or exploitation was not brought up. Americans are aware of class
differences but it is a topic that could offend people. There are four myths
discussed that Americans have about class. These myths being that America is a
classless society, the United States is a middle class nation, everyone is
getting richer, and everyone has an equal chance to succeed. As I continued
reading and read the statistics, I realized that these myths were in fact wrong
and that the people born into families doing well, succeed and commence higher.
Although, we may want to believe that everyone is equal no matter the race,
ethnicity, or economic status, everyone is not equal. In my opinion being apart
of the lower class does not give individuals the chance to succeed. Instead, it
groups the people of lower class into a category of being nothing more than
janitors and maids and just making the cut of being above the poverty line. What
stuck out the most to me was when Mantsios connected class to education. The
higher the student’s social status, the higher the student will get higher
grades and College Board’s survey revealed the same thing. This is because
students who have parents with well-paying jobs can afford to get their child a
tutor or afford online classes that help the student score higher while lower
class families cannot. In sum, from this reading, the final outcome was that
all Americans do not have the same equal opportunity to succeed in life based
on class and income which many people do not like to discuss and turn their
backs on.
