Another silver foot in mouth

Camp Yale, the carefree days before classes start, is a time of mild panic for me. While everyone else revels in the forced habit of eating out, I hope that my friends decide on pizza instead of Bangkok Gardens for dinner. I grit my teeth as people complain about hauling their packages home from the relocated Co- op--packages of overpriced miscellany charged to their parents. Though I curse Yale Telecom now for neglecting to turn on my phone jack, I cursed them with even more virulence in June when I began saving for my phone hook- up fee. A decision to join the Yale Political Union this year will mean that I'll wear my beat- up shoes to a job interview in November.

For many Yalies, there is no dilemma over whether to get laundry service, a net connection, or a parking space in the York Street garage. There are, however, those who prepare as I do, figuring out classes based on the size of book lists and a work- study schedule, knowing that if I take a fifth class I won't have enough money to take the train home for a weekend in October.

Believe it or not, I am a real, live, middle- class student. And contrary to popular belief, most of you aren't. I'm not out for pity or a proletarian revolution. I'd just like to offer a small bit of sensitivity training here.

Having weathered three years of closet penny- pinching (often passé to do so here) I would first like to provide a guide so that some of you might realize your position on the economic spectrum, and end the skewed relativism with which you consider minor financial matters.

Prevailing criteria such as, "We only have one house," or "The only times I've been abroad, I used my dad's frequent flyer miles," are not a good way to justify calling yourself middle- class. Here are some statistics to provide more objective categorizations. Using 1993 figures from the American Almanac, you can determine your relative wealth.

Category One - Families making over $50,000

Category Two - Families making over $75,000

Category Three - Families making over $113,000

Two- thirds of American families reside in category zero--they make less than $50,000 annually.

If you are in category one, you are in the top 35% of families in the United States. This qualifies as middle- class to upper- middle class.

If you find yourself in category two, despite your own perceptions, the other 85% of the American population perceives you as rich.

And if you fit in category three, you are in the top 5% wealth category, and are undeniably rich.

Now that you've placed yourselves, I ask you to please remember that there are people at Yale who fall into categories below you. We tend to forget this, since Yale is unfortunately weak in economic diversity. But all of you do have friends and acquaintances who prioritize every dollar they spend, not because they are cheapskates, but because they have no other choice.

Take note that some things you take for granted are very costly to us. Middle-class students will not turn a group of friends down when everyone wants to go out to dinner. But we will inwardly cringe when everyone splits the bill evenly for convenience after we purposefully and penny-pinchingly skipped appetizers and wine.

Stop making "white trash" jokes; they are as offensive as any other socio-economic-racial slur. Trailer parks are not places where caricatures of "hicks" put cars on cement blocks. They are the homes of girls in my class in elementary school who couldn't have sleepover parties for their birthdays because their friends wouldn't fit inside. Truck drivers are not toothless dirty men. They are people like my friend's father who missed every one of her high school choir concerts because he had to be on the road. And families from rural areas and small states do not participate in incest, nor do they appreciate the jokes. While thankfully, racial and ethnic stereotyping and jokes are off-limits for most Yalies, economic slurs are still widely seen as inoffensive and entertaining.

You top 15.5%, stop calling yourselves middle class. You are not just normal, but privileged. Be conscious of that. Be thankful that you can rush a singing group without worrying about when you'll have time to work. And those who get an allowance every month should remember that, though you may not be aware of it, you know someone else here who is sending money home.

Most importantly, you must remember that my Yale gripes are minor. 65% of the American population has it a lot tougher than me, as I come from a category one family. And I am sure they would grit their teeth over my small complaints. Because half of Yale students come from the top 2% richest families in America, we get lulled into thinking that wealth is commonplace. Lack of extreme wealth is not a syndrome just affecting the rest of the world. People with financial limits are in your midst. Don't pity those less fortunate than yourself, just show the same sensitivity to economic difference as you would to racial, sexual, and religious difference.

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