The Upward Strive

Watching 30 days on minimum wage seemed to conjure up old memories of when my parents and I lived on welfare...

Oh what a time, a time where my mom would calculate everything down to the last penny. She would time our showers, screw out light bulbs in the bathroom to save electricity, and seal off windows to conserve heat in the house. We never ate out, never ate nicely, usually it was just some vegetables that my mom prepared very nicely. We lived in a one room apartment for a year when I was about 3 and moved to an "extravagant" 1 bedroom apartment in the inner city of Akron Ohio. It was pretty horrendous, however the only reason how my family could rise from pits of society to upper middle class suburbia is because of one thing. My dad's intelligence. I hear the term everyone who works hard will succeed, but that I feel is completely false. No matter how hard they work, without a little skill, there is no way to surpass the current social standing that you stand in right now.

The whole belief that your environment around you is extremely influential and definitly affect your mental and social development affects the immobility in social class too. You are raised in a certain culture, taught to think a certain way, and born will an abundance of chances or none. all of which affect the way you will perform in life and later determine the social status of your nature. The apple truly does not fall far from the tree. For instance a blue collar worker instills in his or her child the belief that authority and traditions must be followed, thus killing creativity and innovation. Restricting him or her to rise to the top. In order to really obtain social mobility one must be able to rise above his or her nature, and utilize some sort of talent. Whether it be intelligence, atheleticism, or mere creativity. If you are unable to obtain anything, you will forever be trapped in the "nurture" that will dictate your social outcome.