Working class vs middle class

[Arran]

Middle class people are fairly individualistic and like to question things. Working class people tend to follow the herd and not question things.

Middle class people know that school exists to teach academic subjects, but not social skills. Working class people believe that school is necessary (or even primarily exists) for teaching social skills. Ironically, upper class people believe that public schools, like Eton, exist to teach (the right type of) social skills.

[George 1978]

Surely upper-middle class people prefer Madeira?

I wouldn't know - I don't drink that often.

[George 1978]

I went home for dinner too, there were two of us that went home. There was a lollipop lady that crossed us over the main road and when she retired the local paper did a feature on her and we had our photo taken with her for the paper.

One of the advantages of living within the catchment area of the schools that we went to.

I am certain that our Infant School lollipop lady gave us a Christmas card one year - reminds me of that 1990s Quality Street advert where one of them did the job in all weathers.

[George 1978]

Very elite. My primary school did not allow kids to leave the premises at lunch time unless there were exceptional reasons.

I don't think so - as long as you were not late back to school in the afternoon it didn't matter.

[Arran]

I was at primary school at the time of the Dunblane massacre, so they upped security afterwards including restricting kids from leaving the premises at lunch time.

[HG]

I went home for dinner too, there were two of us that went home. There was a lollipop lady that crossed us over the main road and when she retired the local paper did a feature on her and we had our photo taken with her for the paper.

[Arran]

I went home for dinner so I must have been more elite than others were.

Very elite. My primary school did not allow kids to leave the premises at lunch time unless there were exceptional reasons.

[Cartimand]

It took me three weeks to finish a bottle of sherry - I must be upper-middle class.

Surely upper-middle class people prefer Madeira?

Anyway, I guess another way of telling your class is if your evening meal is your dinner, whereas don't working class oiks call it their "tea"? ;-)

Also, pronouncing the letter H (aitch) as "haitch" is a dead giveaway for being working class.
Remember Parker in Thunderbirds? A salt-of-the-Earth working class bloke, who tried to sound posh when talking to his decidedly upper class employer Lady Penelope, by saying things like "I hanticipated that m'lady".

[George 1978]

Are free school meals a sign of being working class or a sign of being poor?

I went home for dinner so I must have been more elite than others were.

[George 1978]

My mother used to think that NHS glasses for children were a bit naff back in the 1970s and 80s. The limited number of styles available were not attractive and they had not been updated since the 1940s. This was interpreted as how rigid and conservative the NHS really was, and their failure to adapt to meet the needs and requirements of consumers. There was probably some novelty surrounding NHS glasses in the 1940s, but a lot of kids hated wearing them in the 1970s, and were known to snap them up or throw them in the bin. They would get another pair, courtesy of the taxpayer, and the cycle would often repeat. NHS glasses for children probably weren't very good value for money in the 1970s and 80s, and the Thatcher government did the right thing replacing them with a voucher even if it was a case of privatising the NHS via the back door.

There was that stereotype that children were certainly behind academically due to their poor eyesight as most thought that they were no good - ironic then that in later years spectacles were associated with intelligence and being knowledgeable in life. The NHS was founded under a post-War Labour government by Bevin (or Bevan?) (I just cannot imagine HG wearing NHS glasses!)

I lost count how many pairs of glasses were damaged due to bullying in the playground, footballs thrown in my face in PE and God knows what else. Any kid wearing them in the school playground becomes a novelty sight (no pun intended) "Can I try your glasses on?" the kids asked. "No way - go to Dolland and Aitchison, read the Snellen chart from top to bottom (especially the bottom), and get your own" I should have said.

[George 1978]

If you buy a bottle of wine - and don't drink it the same day, you're middle class!

It took me three weeks to finish a bottle of sherry - I must be upper-middle class.

[Arran]

Are free school meals a sign of being working class or a sign of being poor?

[Arran]

My mother used to think that NHS glasses for children were a bit naff back in the 1970s and 80s. The limited number of styles available were not attractive and they had not been updated since the 1940s. This was interpreted as how rigid and conservative the NHS really was, and their failure to adapt to meet the needs and requirements of consumers. There was probably some novelty surrounding NHS glasses in the 1940s, but a lot of kids hated wearing them in the 1970s, and were known to snap them up or throw them in the bin. They would get another pair, courtesy of the taxpayer, and the cycle would often repeat. NHS glasses for children probably weren't very good value for money in the 1970s and 80s, and the Thatcher government did the right thing replacing them with a voucher even if it was a case of privatising the NHS via the back door.

[HG]

I wore NHS glasses until I was about 14 before changing to metal frames, I think it was the amount of times I broke my glasses that held my parents back in getting me non NHS glasses. There was quite a stigma around them in secondary school and you were open to stick/leg pulling about them so no doubt I put pressure on my parents to change my glasses to non NHS.

As I have quite a high prescription I turned to contact lenses at 18 and have just reverted to wearing glasses most of the time in the last couple of years as my near vision for reading deteriorated.

[Arran]

Was the popularity of NHS glasses more a result of large numbers of people wanting something in return for the taxes that they had paid as opposed to genuinely being unable to pay for them without incurring financial hardship?

When my mother was at secondary school back in the early 1980s a big fuss erupted about students having to buy their own safety glasses if they took chemistry for O Level. The issue was less about the cost of the safety glasses, and whether they would be unaffordable to parents, but more about having to pay for them ran counter to the principle of free education. This was despite the fact that the safety glasses were personal property of the student and they could use them outside of school.

She decided it was really a big fuss over nothing, and many parents who were complaining didn't have issues about buying designer school bags and coats that were just fashion statements. The fuss was one of ideology rather than affordability. It seemed like most parents didn't have any problems buying their children toys, designer clothes, and Hi-Fis, but they were loathe to spend a penny on anything educational, because they ideologically believed that the school (and ultimately the taxpayer) should pay for it. In the end, she bought some safety glasses from Payless DIY - remember them - and signed up for the chemistry O Level.