Via Dirty Librarian, below I take the "What Privileges Do You Have?" quiz. I like this quiz because I know that although we had very little money during parts of my childhood (for example, we had to live with another family in order to afford a place), I have always been very privileged in so many respects. I always try to remember that -- to remember how lucky I have been -- and this quiz reminded me.

My upcoming book, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, is also very much about extreme privilege and how it operates.

From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.

Bold the true statements.
1. Father went to college

4. Mother finished college
(and grad school)


5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
(Only professors)

7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.

8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.

9. Were read children's books by a parent
(every night until I was 12)

10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.

11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
(piano, swimming, ballet, gymnastics, drama)

12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively

13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
(This was unthinkable, actually. My mother did not get her first credit card until about 40.)

14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
(I went to college on a scholarship that covered about half. My parents paid the rest.)

15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs

16. Went to a private high school
(on scholarship)

17. Went to summer camp
(Yes. I went to several very cool and probably very expensive summer camps, including the summer drama schools described in Dramarama. Looking back, I guess my parents really believed in them as it must have been a serious expense).

18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18

19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
(Yes, but cheap motels on road trips.)

20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18

21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
(Yes, when I turned 21, a used Toyota! I loved it. It was tomato red.)

22. There was original art in your house when you were a child

23. You and your family lived in a single-family house

24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home

25. You had your own room as a child
(I was an only child until age 23)

26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18

27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course

28. Had your own TV in your room in high school
(There was no TV in the house after age 14)

29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college

30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
(I flew a lot, actually, because I lived 3000 miles from my dad for much of my childhood.)

31. Went on a cruise with your family

32. Went on more than one cruise with your family

33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up

34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Grand total: 21