The Workings of Class (Kusserow)

Apathy is spreading among students, parents, and even teachers.

Some complain they are trying to teach a population that doesn’t want to learn, and find it easier to stop wasting energy trying to get the message across.

The article discusses differences between hard and soft Individualism.
Middle-class children are described in the category of emotion-focused ‘psychologized individualism,’ where parents and teachers resist direct commands to children and teach them to be curious, ask questions, and communicate with adults.
On the other side of the fence, low income neighborhoods are ‘harder realities that give rise to harder individualisms,’ where self-determination, privacy, and self reliance are seen as what’s important and students may be embarrassed about sensitivity, emotions, and imagination.

‘Our culture’s myth of classlessness’ is false, class distinction is apparent in different neighborhoods, jobs, healthcare, exposure to violence, different styles of clothing, music and leisure activities. Our society has a constant pressure to look, act and speak like middle or high class.

I really liked the line in the article ‘we have a word for middle class people’s preoccupation with their inner world. It’s depression.’ It brings to light how our ancestors struggled to build their lives in hard times, and only now in the age of boredom are there so many reported cases of mental disorders.