I've seen this several times already, and I'm not sure what it's supposed to indicate? Maybe how academic your childhood was? Privilege? I dunno. What I do know: 1. I'm the product of academic parents. 2. I truly believed that we were super poor up until I was about 13 (we were quite securely in middle to upper middle class, and my mom swears that she didn't intentionally give us kids this impression...more on THAT later). 3. It's six days before I teach, and I'm sitting at home, drinking coffee, and blogging (did I mention that post-graduate school is WONDERFUL???).
So the plan is to bold the statements that apply. I'll of course add my wonderful little comments to each.
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college Actually, now that I think of it, all of my living relatives either have graduated or are currently in college (or are too young!). What an over-educated bunch!
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor All three!
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers. What an odd question. I'm assuming that this means economic class...but how tacky. I refuse to answer!!
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. Um, no. We had libraries for that!
9. Were read children's books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18. Hmm...let's see: swimming, piano...yeah I think that's it.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed I'm not sure what that means. I wear jeans and T-shirts...?
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18. Yes, but only for emergencies, and I had to pay for it. I think my parents did a really good job of teaching us kids how to manage money (and especially credit cards!!)
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs. Um, hell no. We all knew from a very young age (I can remember being told this in second grade??) that we would have to cover our own college tuition.
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs. Nope, again.
16. Went to a private high school. For half of it. Switched to public for my jr/sr years.
17. Went to summer camp. No, we spent our summers with some good, ole, family bonding via road trips!!
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. Actually, no! We used to pray and wish for rain so that we could stay in a hotel (instead of camping for the night).... my mom know claims that our roadtrips (often 2+ weeks on the road) involved plenty of hotel stays, but I think her memory might be going....
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18. My mom made all of my clothes until I was 13. At the time, I didn't mind, but I think this was another reason I really though we were super-poor. Looking back, I was the scrawniest of scrawny children, so she probably did this because I was so hard to fit into store-bought clothes!
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. I didn't have a car until senior year of college-- and I bought it myself.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child. Other than our own??
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course. I was always pretty good at standardized tests, which today I find funny since I'm terrible at multiple choice tests usually.
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school. Hell no. We weren't allowed to watch TV on weekdays, and on weekends we had to stick to Nickelodeon for the sake of the younguns.
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college. Hahahahahahaha
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. Yes, but we only few twice as a whole family up until I was 20.
31. Went on a cruise with your family. I've seen too many 20/20s with black lights to ever want to go on one!!
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. We went to lots of museums, but mostly we stuck to national parks.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. I never knew the cost, but my parents always kept the heating really, really low.
