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Drexel Noecker

Introduction to Honors 101

Professor Phame Camarena

10 October 2018

Influence of Social Class on Educational Experience

Social class has certainly influenced my educational experience, both positively and

negatively. Regardless of social class in the area I where I was raised, I was privileged to be

provided with a public school system available to any class of citizen through taxpayer revenue.

In many third world countries, school is only available to the rich minority of citizens who often

still have to travel an unrealistic distance to receive a poor quality education. Within my

community, I would consider my family low to middle class. My parents struggled to make

house and car payments throughout the past couple years due to my father’s disability which

forced me to start working at a young age. I have loaned my parents money in order to pay bills

and afford groceries, I feel this experience as a child was very beneficial by preparing me for the

real world. Although, living in a small wealthy town as a lower class member undoubtedly had

setbacks. For example, many of my friend’s parents owned small businesses in the town or had

affiliation with the high school, while my family was new to town and did not know anyone in

the community. This resulted poorly for my sister and I, due to many students being favored and

treated differently in class due to relationships with the students’ families. Students whose

families were wealthy or involved in the community were granted special privileges and

presented unique opportunities unavailable to students such as myself. No matter what aspect of

society one is regarding, social class influences the result of nearly any situation.
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In the reading from Where We Stand: Class Matters, author bell hooks illustrates her

struggles as a lower class black women while acquiring multiple degrees from numerous

universities in the United States. One of the major challenges hooks faces is not residing with

other students at college due to the lower class constructing the minority of students who

attended colleges. A despcable example of hooks’ class conflict had to be dealt with

immediately after arriving at a predominantly white school, “I saw the terror in my roommate’s

face that she was going to be housed with someone black, and I requested a change” (hooks, pg.

25, 2000). Hooks experienced harsh discrimination due to her race and social status while

attending school, yet also faced challenges within her family due to her family income. Another

considerably large setback for hooks due to class privilege occurred when she decided to attend

Stanford, yet she knew her family would not be able to afford it. “All I knew then was that, as

with all my desires, I was told that this desire was impossible to fulfill. At first it was not talked

about with relationship to money, it was talked about with relation to sin” (hooks, pg. 28, 2000).

Hooks later discussed with her family and concluded money was the only thing holding her back,

so she decided to attend knowing she would not see her family for a long time.

Hooks was not presented equality even when she attended the elite school of Stanford.

Hooks stated that even though there were a larger amount of African American students at

Stanford, “Elites themselves, were only interested in teaching other elites. Poor folks like

myself, with no background to speak of, were invisible” (hooks, pg. 35, 2000). While hooks was

intellectually intelligent, her monetary background created a vision to others representing a lack

of worth. For no reason should hooks have been deprived from her educational experience due

to her social class. I would speculate that her overall academic experience was negative and

depicted a disapproving image of America’s upper class.

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Privilege has affected my college educational experience both detrimentally as well as

beneficially. Attending college with a full tuition scholarship is nearly the largest academic

privilege achievable in the United States. I am extremely blessed to be granted the Centralis

Scholarship, along with all the privileges the university provides for honors students. As an

honors student here at CMU, I am provided with an extraordinary counselor, early admissions

sign-up, volunteer and study abroad opportunities, along with designated honors classes to

broaden our minds and deepen our understanding of the world we live in. Although in a

situation similar to the one I am presented with, where the privileged students are the minority,

there are certainly drawbacks. One negative result from being a part of the honors program is

other students stereotyping and assuming to know your personality type. Being an honors

student is followed by a shadow of assumptions including characteristics such as being stuck-up,

selfish, disapproving, and introverted. I have noticed people’s facial emotion change drastically

after I told them I am an honors student because I tend to be open-minded and easy-going which

does not fit the stereotype surrounding the honors program.

Class hierarchy should not divide our education system, every student deserves an equal

opportunity of receiving an education. Positive or negative, class privilege alters the equivalency

of students educational experience. In hooks situation, her social class provided her little to no

benefits, instead shaping a negative depiction of the educational system she was part of. In my

experience so far, I have been privileged in some aspects, yet still find it unfair to the students

who are not granted the same experience. I have been more than blessed with my current and

previous educational experience, I believe everyone should have equal opportunities.

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Work Cited

Hooks, Bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. Routledge, 2000.