Monopobility

Today in class we played monopoly with rules based on the U.S. class structure. We each rolled the dice before the game started to determine which social class we would be in. I happened to roll a 2 so I was in the lowest social class. After playing the game this way, I realized how difficult it really is to improve your social class in America. Its ironic that it is so hard for most people to better their lives and social status when America has the reputation of being "the land of opportunity". Throughout the entire game I felt like one bad thing kept happening after the next and I just couldn't catch a break. I constantly had to pay the richest people in the game the little money I had after landing on their properties and by the end of the game I was barely getting by on welfare. This short game of monoply was frusterating for me because I knew that no matter what I did, I couldn't win. I can't even imagine how people actually living in poverty in the real world must feel knowing that it is next to impossible to move up and become a part of the middle class. After playing this game I also realized how unfair the wealth in America is distributed since there are only a few people who have most of the money, and a lot of people who have barely any. It was depressing to watch the people who were in higher social classes buy property every turn and give up money like it was no big deal, while I on the other hand had to constantly worry about landing on their properties and had to rely on passing GO just to get my paycheck. I believe that the most common way people move up in social class is when they are growing up and making decisions like studying in school, going to college, and getting a job. I think this because both of my parents are in different social classes than their parents, my grandparents, due to the lifestyle choices they made at early ages. I hope that someday I can belong to an even higher social class than my parents. If that does happen, I plan to help out the less fortunate people in lower classes because I don't believe its fair in America for some people to be extremely wealthy while others barely have enough money to survive.