Kayla Pfaff, Family History: Neighborhoods and Education The one thing that comes to mind for many who wish to find their home in America is the American dream. Goals of making a larger salary and achieving a higher social status than one’s parents both come to mind. However, moving from one class to another, or class mobility, remains a very uncommon and unlikely aspect of the American dream. Peoples’ circumstances encountered in adolescence, such as neighborhoods and schools, have a significant impact on their future opportunities. This statement in exhibited by the generations of my family.
My grandparents Joe and Norma came from families that had some educational background. However, they were able to find areas of the towns they were …show more content…
My mother’s neighborhood consisted of predominately white, upper class people. While my father’s neighborhood consisted of blue-collar workers and business owners. Both of them, while coming from very different neighborhoods both attended public high schools with a mixture of economic classes. My mother’s school was respected for its academics and athletics while my father’s high school was respected for mainly athletics, which allowed the working middle class to find education with benefit of athletics. Through athletics, both my parents were able to attend a college for athletic scholarships. However, in my mother’s high school, many black families began sending their children for football and athletic recruitment, which in turn lowered the academic standing and quality of education being given as many upper class white families removed their children from the school. This left many of the black families in the area at a disadvantage and a very strong divide between the upper class in the town and the lower class. Both of the schools my parents attended provided an environment for them to flourish both academically and athletically which led to success in finding a