Think it was just coined yesterday?

This notion that all-of-a-sudden life should be fair and there’s some terrible wrong being portrayed if it’s not is ridiculous.

What you are owed is an opportunity to do as good as you can and to provide for your family and even your scions as much as you can. Your job is to compete for priviledge. If you don’t have as much as the next guy or the next family, take a look and see what they and their family did that gave them this priviledge and emulate it.

Not to go back to teaching, but hey, that’s all I really know. I would always notice the “better off” children (the ones who bring their own gourmet organic lunches to school) were more prone to tantrums when things did not go their way. Meanwhile, my kids (the ones with special needs) would seem very content when I reward them with a sticker or when I read their favorite story during lunchtime.

I think most of those privileges (as displayed by the list) occurs before 16, and most children who are blessed with them believe it is their right to be entitled to them and/or that it is the norm to have those items in their lives. There is nothing wrong with having those privileges – I intend for my son to have the best of the best, but of course, with those gifts in life, there have to be lessons of hardwork, persistence, and appreciation.

pissedoffteacher, that’s what I mean. I think the exercise is good for helping one reflect on how much privilege you may or may not have.

We didn’t have much money. We lived in the projects in the Bronx. I weny yo a big, inner city high school and got my college degree from CCNY. Privilege is what you make it.

Taylor, I’m still conflicted about that, to be honest. I’m not sure if we can require a multicultural class or an racial ethics class, and we’ll ever have the right people teaching those classes. It’s hard to require people to open their minds, but I also know that there’s been success doing so if it’s done indirectly, letting them discover the answer. I’ll get back to you on that one.

MDC, I think this exercise has its pitfalls as much as the next exercise. Even one of the test creators acknowledges as much, stating that they just wanted to write down some social indicators of privilege. Strictly speaking, privilege is an extremely relative term, and as such, necessitates that we compare groups of people with other groups of people. (you can’t have privilege without other people having more or less than you). The exercise is far from perfect: questions about home life don’t show up and neither do questions about financial stability. Nonetheless, it serves its purpose as a conversation starter and these items do tend to show up time and again in successful families.

Frum, you’re welcome …

I’ve seen this on several blogs and every time I see it I think the same thing.

By whose measure do we measure privilege? What does it mean if we went to summer camp? Are these things considered privilege in non-White communities?

Someone on another blog mentioned that she was a member of Jack and Jill as a child, which is an exclusive organization for the children of Black families who have a history of success.

She said that she did not consider that privilege because it would not help her in the world at -large.

Of course I disagreed with her assessment because there are thousands of former Jack and Jill members in all sorts of positions of influence out in the world.

My point is that why do we judge our privilege by other peoples standards? It’s another form of cultural supremacy.

I don’t buy into this exercise at all.