Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a retelling of Barbara's transformation from a upper-middle class writer, to a minimum wage worker, trying to experience what life would be like for these people, discovering that they do not make nearly enough to have a decent living, severely below the poverty line. Throughout her experiment she, traveled to three different states, Florida, Maine, and Minnesota working as a waitress, a maid, a Walmart associate, and a dietary aide in a residential facility, only living off her earnings from these jobs. She had to find affordable housing and food, which proved to be quite difficult. Ehrenreich found herself living in motels, trailers, and run down apartments because they were the only affordable options. Her experiment showed readers a glimpse of what minimum wage worker's lives are like, and how much of a problem poverty is in the United States.
Throughout her experience, she learned many valuable lessons about minimum wage workers. One of them was not to make assumptions. Going into the experiment, Ehrenreich thought she was going to be able to find a job rather quickly, and that she would be over qualified for the positions she was applying for. As it turned out, she wasn't over qualified at all. She had just as much trouble finding a job as anybody else, having to pass the same personality and drug tests to attain a job. She thought she would stick out like a sore thumb on the job for being over qualified and educated, but she didn't; She fit in like everyone else. She also made a lot of judgments and assumptions about her co-workers. She discovered that most of her co-workers were hard working individuals who depended on their job to make ends meet, even willing to work through injuries just so they wouldn't miss any of their valuable paycheck. Overall, just because someone is a low-wage worker, it doesn't mean they aren't hard workers like the rest of us. Most of them work hard for their money, and are forced to keep their low-wage jobs because of other issues, even though they desire to have a better life for themselves.
From a preservice teacher's perspective, this means that we cannot make assumptions about our students. Before we make any judgments or assumptions, we have to take the time to get to know our students personally and academically. We should inquire about their lives, learn about them, see what they are interested in. But more importantly, we have to take the time to get to know them academically, review their data, learn their learning styles, their strengths and weaknesses, so we can help them succeed. If we don't take this time, we may not allow our students to reach their full potential, condemning them to assumptions, judgement and stereotypes.
2. Were your perceptions of blue-collar American's transformed or reinforced by Nickel and Dimed? Have your notions of poverty and prosperity changed since reading the book? What about your treatment of waiters, maids, and salespeople?
Absolutely!! My perceptions have been transformed. Before reading this, I never thought much about blue-collar workers. But now, I know that most of them are hard workers trying their best to make a living while trying to battle the never ending fight of poverty. They may want to get out of poverty, have a better job and have a chance to prosper, but it isn't easy. Poverty isn't something you can cure by just having a job. Working on a minimum wage salary alone isn't enough to get out of poverty, much more needs to be done. My perceptions of poverty and prosperity have also changed. I never knew poverty was such a huge problem, or how hard it is to make a living off of minimum wage. I used to think that if people just got a job, they could have a better life. However, this is not always the case. Although having a job is a step in the right direction, sometimes it just is not enough. My view of prosperity has also been transformed. While reading, I related what she was experiencing to what I had experienced in my life, and it just doesn't compare. I always knew I lived a nice life, always getting the things I needed and wanted, always knowing where my next meal was coming from. But the people in poverty, don't always have this luxury. And yes, it's a luxury and a part of prosperity. I thought prosperity was having more than enough, being so rich and having fancy things. However, prosperity can also mean being able to get the necessities, having more than the people in poverty, being able to help those in need. My perceptions of maids, salespeople, and waiters has changed too. I now have much more respect for them than I had before. I had no idea they worked so hard and had to go through so much. Having to work through injuries to not skip a check because they can't afford to. I appreciate their hard work much more, and learned that they aren't a bunch of slackers. They are trying to make a living like the rest of us.
I agree with many points that you make in this blog post. I think that your summary of the book, Nickel and Dimed, provides a good description for anyone unfamiliar with the text. I agree that Enrenreich makes many assumptions in the book. The author’s assumptions are proven to be false in many situations, such as being “overqualified” and finding a job quickly and easily. Enrenreich took a very humbling journey when she decided to work at minimum wage jobs and I believe this affected her point of view on various topics and situations. Hopefully she does not make these kinds of assumptions in the future. I think as readers, we should learn the same lesson as well. This also applies to teaching, as you stated in your blog. I agree that as teachers we cannot make assumptions about our students. Various factors such as race, socioeconomic status, and gender should not affect how we view our students. If we are to make an assumption, the assumption should be that each and every student has the ability to succeed.
I am really glad that this book changed your perceptions of blue-collar workers. I had a similar reaction to this book. Most people do not spend the time to think about the experiences and the hardships of others and I believe this book helps increase the empathy of its readers. Many people assume that it would be “easy” to get out of poverty and they do not realize all of the struggles that various people face.
Thank you for this very insightful reflection of Nickel and Dimed. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future!
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Ashley Augustine
10/22/2013 05:16:11 am
I completely agree with the things you said about the book itself. She did make a lot of judgements and assumptions, but I believe that as her research continued she started to see the falsities in those assumptions. She began to realize that not all minimum wage workers were uneducated and lazy, but that some had just ended up in bad situations by a chance of fate. I also wanted to agree with your statement about the fact that having a job does not mean you are suddenly boosted out of poverty. My mother worked as a teacher and when we were younger she was my family's only source of income. While teaching isn't normally considered a blue-collar job, when you only have that paycheck coming in, things can get tight. So even though she had a steady job, some days we had to go without things. Overall I thought your post was very insightful and I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for posting.
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