Moving Up in Class

When I think of social class, I think about how much my life is affected because of a category. I grew up and still live in a low middle class family with my mother, father, and older brother. My parents made extrodinary sacrifices to send my brother and I to private high schools instead of going to public school. My private school cost $25,000 a year while my town’s public school would have been $4,000. The loans my parents took out from the bank and the extra shifts they took at work to get money is just a small part of what I know they did for my brother and I to go to private school.
When I first asked them why they wanted my brother and I to go to private school, they told me that they wanted us to have a better life with more opportunity and that they wanted me to ‘want more’ out of life. They want me to strive for more and to move up in social class. I noticed during high school that everyone came from a better social class and slowly I began to want what they have. A life without having to worry about money and being able to say you are part of a prestige group is something I wanted.
I think social class has affected my idea of families as well as my idea of family in the future because I am now surrounded by a higher social class and will do whatever it takes so my family will be considered part of the group. My morals and ethics and upbringing I will always carry with me and bring to my family that I will have one day but I will be sure to have them be part of a better class. I think social class affects the way people are seen as well as what is possible for them. Most of my friends and neighbors from my town will always be Blue collar and join their parents in the union and there is nothing wrong with that. But when the idea and the scarifies are made to get something better, I believe it is my responsibility to do the same for my family and to push them to want more out of life.