Can a man change his stars?

I never really thought about where my family stood on the social class level in society. Really it’s different depending on where you live. You take someone in the United States, for instance, that is from the lower level class and you compare them to people in third world countries. Do you really think they would appear to the other country as lower class? 

What sorts of factors decide social class? We talked in class that a McDonald’s worker who is at the same “poverty” level as a Student from Stanford or Brown is still at a lower social class. Why is that? They make the same amount of money; in fact the McDonald’s worker probably makes more money than the student. So shouldn’t the worker be higher than the student? They determine social class not only by money, but by education; where you live; and mannerisms.

 

So the question posed, can a man change his stars? In a knight’s tale we see that it’s nearly impossible for someone from the lower class (peasant) cannot become a knight. The son kept asking his father if it were possible for him to change his path (the stars) In the end (SPOILER!) William is able to become a knight, the person he always wanted to be. So why can’t we become better?

This might sound a little odd to talk about in family relations, but think about your own family. Think about how education, location, money, mannerisms have really shaped your own family. 

For me, I wouldn’t say location truly is what defined where my parents were on the social class. We moved a lot in the military and most times we would take what was given to us on base. However, there were certain people on base that had special arrangements because they were the general or a high up colonel. They would be a neighborhood full of other people the same ranking as them and everyone would know that is “General lane” or something like that. 

Do we act differently because our parents reached higher education? I never questioned whether or not to go to college growing up in my family. I knew my parents did it and so I automatically just knew I would be doing the same. However, someone who did not grow up with the same influence from their parents probably wouldn’t have thought about that.

So how does this affect the culture of the family? Is it because those who have less education are more likely to end up with children out of wedlock? Are they the same people who have their parents’ raise their children while they work because they need to support their child? There are so many factors as to why the children are born out of wedlock. However, trends show that those born out of wedlock are because of lower class family.

It’s not to say that one class is better than another. There are different values from each class that should be applied to a family. There are some families in lower classes that are much closer and tighter knit than those in upper class family. Some Higher class families have stronger work ethics than others in middle class.

Each class has different values and great things that come from them. So, does it really matter which class you choose to raise your child in if you try your best at creating a loving, opportune home for them?