I love my sociology class so much. so here’s a thread on the lesson we did today about Wealth and Class:

so class started, my teacher put this kid in charge of handing out playing cards to us. In the deck he was given there was one Ace, a few 7s and 8s, and the rest were 2-5

he gave me the ace and gave the other kids the other cards. When class started, my teacher asked who the ace was, I raised my hand and she said I could go sit at the desks with the higher chairs by the window

the 7s and 8s were grouped together and the 2-5s were a group. The latter was the largest group in the class.

she told me I represented the rich/Uber wealthy class. The 7s and 8s were the middle class and everyone else, the majority I might add, was the poorest class.

because it was after Halloween, she had 16 packets of m&ms. I got 13, the middle class got 2 (to share amongst the four of them) and the others got one single packet. One packet to divide amongst them.

she asked me what I thought about my wealth. I said I didn’t think it was fair because there’s no way for me to work for this much, I have way more than I need and they don’t have enough.

she asked the others what they thought. The general consensus was that I had too much, they had too little. We all agreed it wasn’t fair.

later, she explained that 60% of my wealth (about 8 packets) was inherited. she asked me what I thought about that too. I said that wasn’t fair either because I definitely didn’t work for that. She asked me what I wanted to do with it. I said redistribute so the poor could —

so the poor could have some as well. So she did. Now the middle class was upset bc they now had less than the poor. She then went on to describe the animosity some middle class have toward the poor bc they believe they didn’t “work” for the wealth they’d just received

now she explained that those on welfare 80% HAVE JOBS. they aren’t lazy they deserve help. even with the boost I gave them, it would still be hard to get to where the middle class was.

I ended up giving it all away, bc I didn’t want it, but also to illustrate that by sharing my wealth, everyone wins.