The Class Factor
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Comprehension check
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What social class was O’Reilly born into? Did he realize his social background straight from his childhood?
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Does the class system encourage people from Levittown to move up the social ladder?
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When did O’Reilly first learn about the rigidity of the class system?
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What path did O’Reilly follow after graduation from the college?
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Was the Harvardites’ superiority complex conscious?
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Discriminate between true and false statements. Justify your choice by relevant information from the section.
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Politicians enjoy speculating about different aspects of the class system.
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Advertisers are committed to the uniformity of the consuming class.
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You can undoubtedly make the quantum leap from one class into another by just working a little harder.
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O’Reilly’s father had a strong belief that
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“the best” was playing it safe in life;
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going to college shall be a life-altering event;
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only spartan life which he shared with his neighborhood can be an icon of ambition for his children.
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American politicians, businesspeople, and media moguls are well aware of the essentiality of the middle class for their existence.
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The Harvardites wanted O’Reilly to call them straight by their Christian names.
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Authorities expected Notah Begay, the golf player to stay at least a week in the detention center.
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Fill in the blanks
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Most of us remain in the same class, for ---------- or -----------, until the day we die.
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Commitment to the idea of quantum leap is supposed to keep us ------------- and quiet.
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Class is about opportunity for your kids or ------------- hopes, about education or minds that ----------for good, about enduring ------------ or materialism that comes out as greed or --------- or complete-----------for others.
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No one ever told O’Reilly that he was ------------ the social totem pole.
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O’Reilly was --------- for the larger stage and went toBoston University for a master’s degree in journalism.
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“Our fathers did not have friends waiting to interview us for ------------- jobs as soon as we got our ------------.
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Many of the faculty and students had seen me ------------ “Inside Edition” a nationally---------- infotainment TV show that might delve into such politically significant subjects as Madonna’s decision to have a baby.
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Discussion Points
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Can class be fully equaled with money?
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What can be inferred from the statement that Boston University and MIT and Harvard were separated with more than a stretch of dirty water (of the Charles River)?
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Why did social class study become a mutually beneficial process?
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How is the system designed? What factors are of paramount importance for your career?
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What questions raised by the author would get positive answers in your case?