A break from catching up

Grading is overwhelming me. So for a break, I checked the blogs of some of my favorite people. Tim had a great post on his observations from coming to a top-notch grad school from a working class background. He and I have really similar backgrounds in many ways. My parents were educated, but they were the only people in my family who were. Several of my cousins, who are my age, have degrees, but not any of my aunts and uncles (wait, Aunt Rebbecca has an associates degree, but she earned that within the last few years).

My experiences growing up were just different from that of many of my professors and of my colleagues. Add to that, I come from a culture that places a lot of value on orality. And as part of that, we tend to use additive construction rather than subordinative construction in our communication, which is largely narrative. Further, we offer example after example and let people work out their own conclusions as to meaning. Yeah, that was something to overcome in academic discourse.

The people that I am around do not look as these issues as classist, but they certainly are. What else *could* they be? In a world where multiple voices are valued, my voice, as it is, would be considered in the conversation. Instead, I, and many others who are outside the mainstream, must take on the voices of the prestige group.

I sound so cynical here. I should probably do some work and quit pontificating.