EXWR 100-01: Basic Writing
October 31, 1996

Paper 7: Economic Class at Oberlin

Economic class is currently one of the most difficult topics in American academic studies to write about. Americans like to believe that theirs is class-less democracy, where ideally every person, no matter what their economic circumstances, has equal worth.

It's especially difficult to talk about economic class at Oberlin, because we hold so dearly to the belief that ours is a community built purely on intellectual and moral merit. But many of us experience this community very differently.

For this paper I'd like for you to examine some aspect of economic class and the distribution of wealth at Oberlin by choosing one of the following topics:

1. Describe and analyze a situation you've witnessed at Oberlin in which you've observed economic class affecting the ways people interact with each other. Discuss what influence the varying economic backgrounds of the people involved had on their ability to understand each other. How have other aspects of the participants' backgrounds (like national origin, race, age, or gender) interacted with economic class in this incident?

2. Research a common assumption about economic class at Oberlin. It may be some idea that you and/or other people have about Oberlin College students or Oberlin college faculty or professional staff or other workers. Or you may prefer to examine some assumption about the residents of the town of Oberlin.

   For this topic you will need to first describe the assumption. Where did you first learn of it? Have you heard or seen evidence that other people share the assumption? What evidence, if any, do you see that your assumption influences the way we work at Oberlin and the relations between people here?

   Then research the validity of that assumption. Remember that research can be carried out in a variety of forms, for example looking up statistics, interviewing experts, surveying a sizable number of informants, reading previous research, or analyzing relevant official documents like census reports. Use the results of your research to analyze the validity of the assumption in this paper.

3. Discuss Cornel West's observations about the history and assumptions behind Affirmative Action in the United States, and whether or not they apply to attitudes about Affirmative Action that you've seen expressed at Oberlin. Do people other than African Americans share the two forms of paralysis ("bourgeois preoccupation with white peer approval" and "nationalist obsession with white racism") that West examines in Chapter 5 of Race Matters? What effect do these attitudes have on how people of different races and ethnicities interact with each other?

4. You may substitute a paper you're working on for another class for this paper. If you choose this option be sure to talk to me about it before starting.