Class and Money and Me
I have always maintained that my family is rich. My father is a tenured professor at a large university (and has been since I was a toddler- he became tenure track there shortly before I was born). He additionally has authored a textbook and gets research grants. My mother has worked for money intermittently during my life, but the money she did make allowed my parents to purchase their first house when I was three years old.
It was not plausible during my childhood or adolescence, that, without my parents actively deciding to deny them to me (which WAS a very plausible possibility), I would be lacking for any material thing I needed.
My parents have never seen it that way. They've never owned a building outright (rather than having a mortgage) and they think about money. They haven't felt able to afford services and schools they wanted for my more disabled brothers, and the fact of having five disabled and/or chronically ill children (as well as one stillbirth) adds up, financially. My mother says we're lower middle class.
I received a bachelor's degree in education without paying for anything but books and other supplies. I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was a sophomore. I began having issues with my attention span prior to my diagnosis; roughly six weeks after my diabetes diagnosis I noticed that I was having issues with my memory that I had never had before, and a few months later my memory was so shot that I felt that I myself was lost. My sense of self and continuity were adrift. I could not imagine teaching as a successful career.
In fact, I wasn't really sure what I was doing in college- I could not imagine myself successful in a job that demanded a college degree.
By the time I did my student teaching, my cognitive function had recovered to a significant extent, but although my student teaching supervisors adjudged me competent (I received a B+ on my student teaching), I did not so adjudge myself.
I worked a variety of part time jobs for a few years and then I became a CNA- a certified nurses' aide (sometimes we're called certified nurses' assistants). Being a CNA does not require a high school diploma, although many employers prefer to see one. In schematics of the respective IQs of individuals in various jobs that I have seen, CNAs average an IQ about a standard deviation below the mean.
However, CNAs are the backbone of almost all nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehabs, and to a lesser extent hospitals. In most long term care facilities, we are the ones who have the most interaction (by a very long shot) with residents. We do the icky stuff like clean up poop; we do impossible stuff like answer civilly the 7th time we're asked to get the kleenex out of a closet we know has no kleenex. We are the staff that's there overnight. We do physical labor and we do difficult labor and somebody we smell poop all day, and for all that we are not allowed to give any opinions about what might be making somebody sick, explain to anybody any diagnoses, or make any decisions regarding patient care. It is a low status job and we get little respect (except from some of the patients/residents- we're still sometimes a rung above them, although others think we're maids).
Starting pay for CNAs in Chicago is typically around $10/hr. Median pay for all CNAs nationwide is $12.50/hr. In the neighborhood where I work, a one bedroom apartment costs in the neighborhood of $800- $1100 per month to rent. A CNA who works 40 hours per week would make about 1600 per month. If $800 goes for rent, and $250 goes for paying the premiums on insurance (as it does for my older colleagues- because of my youth, I pay nothing for now), and $150 for food, and $150 goes for taxes, there is $250/month left over to pay for anything else.
Which means, I don't know how any CNA is able to afford to raise a child. Especially not as a single parent.
It was not plausible during my childhood or adolescence, that, without my parents actively deciding to deny them to me (which WAS a very plausible possibility), I would be lacking for any material thing I needed.
My parents have never seen it that way. They've never owned a building outright (rather than having a mortgage) and they think about money. They haven't felt able to afford services and schools they wanted for my more disabled brothers, and the fact of having five disabled and/or chronically ill children (as well as one stillbirth) adds up, financially. My mother says we're lower middle class.
I received a bachelor's degree in education without paying for anything but books and other supplies. I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was a sophomore. I began having issues with my attention span prior to my diagnosis; roughly six weeks after my diabetes diagnosis I noticed that I was having issues with my memory that I had never had before, and a few months later my memory was so shot that I felt that I myself was lost. My sense of self and continuity were adrift. I could not imagine teaching as a successful career.
In fact, I wasn't really sure what I was doing in college- I could not imagine myself successful in a job that demanded a college degree.
By the time I did my student teaching, my cognitive function had recovered to a significant extent, but although my student teaching supervisors adjudged me competent (I received a B+ on my student teaching), I did not so adjudge myself.
I worked a variety of part time jobs for a few years and then I became a CNA- a certified nurses' aide (sometimes we're called certified nurses' assistants). Being a CNA does not require a high school diploma, although many employers prefer to see one. In schematics of the respective IQs of individuals in various jobs that I have seen, CNAs average an IQ about a standard deviation below the mean.
However, CNAs are the backbone of almost all nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehabs, and to a lesser extent hospitals. In most long term care facilities, we are the ones who have the most interaction (by a very long shot) with residents. We do the icky stuff like clean up poop; we do impossible stuff like answer civilly the 7th time we're asked to get the kleenex out of a closet we know has no kleenex. We are the staff that's there overnight. We do physical labor and we do difficult labor and somebody we smell poop all day, and for all that we are not allowed to give any opinions about what might be making somebody sick, explain to anybody any diagnoses, or make any decisions regarding patient care. It is a low status job and we get little respect (except from some of the patients/residents- we're still sometimes a rung above them, although others think we're maids).
Starting pay for CNAs in Chicago is typically around $10/hr. Median pay for all CNAs nationwide is $12.50/hr. In the neighborhood where I work, a one bedroom apartment costs in the neighborhood of $800- $1100 per month to rent. A CNA who works 40 hours per week would make about 1600 per month. If $800 goes for rent, and $250 goes for paying the premiums on insurance (as it does for my older colleagues- because of my youth, I pay nothing for now), and $150 for food, and $150 goes for taxes, there is $250/month left over to pay for anything else.
Which means, I don't know how any CNA is able to afford to raise a child. Especially not as a single parent.