Monopoly: Reality Style

This week in class we began the week by playing Monopoly with an adapted set of rules. We all started with different amounts of money, based on the social class we randomly got at the beginning of class. This game was supposed to show us how difficult it is to move up at all in social class in real life, and how easy it is to fall down the social ladder at any point. I thought this was such an interesting way to demonstrate this idea of social immobility, and it definitely gave me a different perspective on people in various social classes. People that are in the working class or middle class are working just as hard, if not harder, than the people in the upper-middle to upper classes. Their only disadvantage is being born into a lower social group. How is that their fault? It isn't. I had never thought about social standing in this manner before. Monday night a few of us went to Uptown Cafe. If there's one experience I would recommend to anyone, this would be the one. Living in a community like the Buffalo Grove/Lincolnshire area, we really aren't too exposed to people of wide varieties of social standing. Going to Uptown Cafe showed me that it isn't just people who don't care to go to work, or are living on the street. It's people who are just down on their luck and can't make enough money to support their families above the poverty line. I met teachers, religious leaders...so many people that are educated, but simply can't seem to stay afloat. Many people aren't really aware of this class of people because they haven't been exposed to that type of environment. As our version of Monopoly taught us this week, it's sad, but it's reality.