Reply #78: Well said, Plaid [View All]

When I was in grade school in the early 1960s, we were taught the U.S. had three classes: Upper, middle and working class. I think the poor were considered to be below working class, but we never talked about them in grade school. Working class in those days was defined as the people who more or less worked with their hands: police, firefighters, factory workers, construction workers, laborers and nurses.

Back in those days, these working class jobs paid a living wage. It was not considered a disgrace for your dad to be a cop or a factory worker, at least not in my neighborhood. A few kids' moms were nurses, teachers or garment workers, but most moms stayed home. A few made extra money selling Avon or cutting hair and giving perms. I think my mom sometimes did ironing for other people before she became ill.

My dad was a bookkeeper in a soap factory. He didn't earn much, but this and a couple of years of college qualified him as a member of the lower middle class.