Supplemental Service Learning Assignment

“Shadowy Lines That Still Divide” by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt discuss’ class specifically the social injustice, the struggle to switch from a lower class to a higher class and the ability of lower class citizens to purchase what were once considered upper class luxuries.
First off the article defines class as “groups of people of similar economic and social position; people who, for that reason, may share political attitudes, lifestyles, consumption patterns, cultural interests and opportunities to get ahead.” Much of the article is talking about the difficulty of switching classes and why it is that people have such a hard time. Few people like Bill Gates or Bill Clinton experienced the quintessential rags to riches story, as seen when the author writes, “Bill Clinton traded in a hand of low cards with the help of a college education and a Rhodes scholarship and emerged decades later with four face cards. Bill Gates, who started off squarely in the upper middle class, made a fortune without finishing college, drawing three aces.” However most people do not have it so easy because the elite or the higher social class has a monopoly over everything making it more difficult for people to switch classes. Although it does seem like class is fading as a force in American life.
Class may be fading as a force in American life because it is becoming easier and easier for lower to middle class citizens to buy what were once considered luxurious items like cellular telephones, owning a home, driving a new car or even purchasing tickets for a cruise. “Factories in China and elsewhere churn out picture-taking cell phones and other luxuries that are now affordable to almost everyone. Federal deregulation has done the same for plane tickets and long-distance phone calls. Banks, more confident about measuring risk, now extend credit to low-income families, so that owning a home or driving a new car is no longer evidence that someone is middle class. The economic changes making material goods cheaper have forced businesses to seek out new opportunities so that they now market to groups they once ignored. Cruise ships, years ago a symbol of the high life, have become the ocean-going equivalent of the Jersey Shore. BMW produces a cheaper model with the same insignia. Martha Stewart sells chenille jacquard drapery and scallop-embossed ceramic dinnerware at Kmart. “
As we can see the definition or boundaries of social classes are now being blurred because it is getting more difficult to determine what class people are actually from because everything is becoming cheaper and thus more affordable for everyone. Even though many people are finding it difficult to move up the social class ladder, lower class citizens are now capable of buying what was once considered predominantly luxuries of the upper class. Class in America is socially unjust because “unequal’s” are being treated equally, so to speak.
Though it may be easier for poor people to purchase new and exciting things like a car or a new home, unfortunately when it comes to class and healthcare nothing has changed. I am studying to become a nurse and because of this I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about this particular topic. Nearly 16 % of Americas population is uninsured meaning they do not get help paying for medical treatment and most of these people are in fact either lower class or middle class. Without a job that provides medical benefits it is extremely expensive to pay for health insurance and therefore many people cannot afford it and as a result many people do not seek medical attention when they are in need. This can cause major problems in poorer neighborhoods because disease can spread quickly and no one can do anything about it. There are free clinics who can lend a hand but these organizations only have so many supplies to help people and when they run out people are left to find another solution. It is sad because things like lower level education are free to everyone but health care is not.
In other countries, people have universal healthcare, meaning they do not have to have insurance but in America n such thing exists meaning that people of a lower class are often turned away when they have medical issues because they cannot afford it and they do not have enough money to pay for it.
For my service learning opportunity I volunteered for S.M.I.L.E at Longfellow Elementary School, which is a Title One school meaning, the students who attend the school are from poorer neighborhoods and families. Because of this many of the students are in lower economic class then students who may be attending private schools. As I talked about earlier people of a lower class usually do not have healthcare and because of this many students are taken out of school for a prolonged period of time because they do not have the proper medicine to treat an illness in a short amount of time. As a result students fall behind on school work and when children are home sick their parents usually have to stay home from work because they cannot afford a babysitter and therefore the parents do not get paid and they have difficulty paying house payments and bills and therefore it is harder to come out of poverty. It is a vicious cycle, one that needs to be examined and one that needs a solution as fast as possible before even more people fall into a lower social and economic class.