by Rhyman Gaines

Created on: March 22, 2009

Money creates class distinctions. Enough money makes you wealthy or rich and not enough makes you working class or poor. Though both classes share the same planet they live in different worlds. The wealthy can afford the best of everything while the poor or working class struggle to keep a roof overhead and food on the table.

While the lower class may consider the upper class to be snobs and undeserving of their wealth the upper class consider them to be their social inferiors. The misunderstanding between these classes seems to stem from two differing viewpoints that in some cases are right while in others they are wrong.

Those that have wealth, whether inherited or earned, fear the less fortunate are out to take it from them. The poor feel the wealthy are holding them back by denying them access to positions of influence and opportunity. To some extent resentment and fear exist on both sides. How then is this gap between the classes maintained and how can it be bridged?

Aside from the money issue the key to bridging this gap lies in education. The wealthy can afford the best education possible for their children. With degrees from highly ranked universities and family influence wielded on their behalf they are almost always assured a well paying secured future. Their circle of friends come from the same backgrounds with the same privileges and the same mindset of entitlement.

Doors of power and influence are opened to the wealthy. They control the political landscape and shape policy. Too often this policy is solely for their benefit with little that trickles down stream to the less fortunate. Their moral and ethical standards coincide with their socioeconomic needs and aspirations. The ruling class, as they have been called, controls the working class and the poor by economic means. Simply put the lower class are viewed as expendable sources of labor. This is a moral and ethical distinction based solely on economic need by and for the wealthy. Right or wrong depends on which side of that ledger you are on.

The working class or blue collar as they are often called have neither the time nor the means to afford the same level of education as the wealthy, on as large a scale. Grants and scholarships help level the educational opportunities somewhat but it does not open the same doors as it does to the wealthy. Lower class, or the extremely poor, view higher education as something unattainable to them. From impoverished backgrounds their base needs, that most of us take for granted, are their immediate concerns. Opportunity and upward mobility are replaced with words like faith and hope. They do what they must to survive.

By innovation and education the lower class can narrow that gap between the rich and the poor. In time both sides may be able to overcome their fears and misconception of each other as that gap closes. Until then the status quo will remain the same.

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