Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education

Stephanie explores the many barriers that prevent her from achieving her dreams. Barriers are constructed by other people and institutions and are challenges for her to overcome. As a high school student, she was shown by her parents how to budget, earn money, find jobs, and build a resume. Her dad bought her a car so that she could drive to work. However, Stephanie was most impacted by her parents not saving up to pay for her college; she sees this as a major setback in her life and believes her parents are to blame for her only finishing two years of undergraduate education in Alaska.

Stephanie encounters the barrier of out-of-state tuition being higher than in-state tuition and believes that she should qualify for in-state tuition because she moved to Montana a few weeks previously. She encounters many instances of institutionalized sexism and bias against parents, acknowledging that unattached men have much more free time than mothers.

Stephanie offers a thoughtful contemplation of how poverty is viewed in the United States. Late-stage capitalism offers little respite from the constant need to work, and one’s value is reduced to one’s production potential. Stephanie cites the stereotypes associated with welfare and loathes that she is lumped into the same category as people who are trying to freeload.