Down with Downward Mobility

Ten years of working as a teacher, and two expensive degrees later, Miss Cheapist contemplated the notion of downward mobility—or more specifically, whether or not her personal ethos of fiscal cheapism and emotional generosity was working for her. She began to yearn for the advancement experienced by her corporate lawyer friends, who once toiled away at teaching and publishing jobs, and years later, regained consciousness and chose to obtain marketable graduate degrees. Now they make six figures with chunky bonuses. When the thrill of being the first in her family to receive such an elite education finally subsided, Miss Cheapist had to question the true value of her education and the cost of her parents’ sacrifice. Was teaching a true calling, or was it delaying her from developing ambitions and a sense of practicality? Moreover, was she isolating herself from others with the claim that “money didn’t matter,” and that she couldn’t do a job “just for the money?”

After a quick survey, she identified three distinct groups of peers:
1) those enjoying life without analysis, primarily with inherited wealth and expensive hobbies
2) Those who pulled themselves up from their bootstraps, claiming they “earned” it all themselves; and,
3) A nebulous group of others who lived paycheck to paycheck and seemed socially assimilated, but were not on track to meet or surpass their parents in income, assets or sensibility.

This final group remains the downwardly mobile. They are often overwhelmed with the achievements of earlier generations, but believing that their parents sacrificed for their happiness, can justify their own personal choices. They say things like, “I can’t believe my mother held a full-time job, and had dinner ready for us when we came home,” or, “how did they have two kids and a Jetta by the time they were our age?” The downwardly mobile are insightful and articulate--but can they truly be happy if they do not reproduce the life their parents provided for them?

Sadly enough, Miss Cheapist never imagined herself being downwardly mobile. After all, she had a work ethic (think Lloyd on Entourage). Initially attracted to teaching because it was creative, autonomous and ‘meaning-driven,’ the profession lost some of its luster when her former colleagues left schools for corporate America (upwardly mobile), or to work in restaurants and make more money in tips alone (upwardly mobile?), and new colleagues entered as “career changers,” receiving bonuses for their “past work experience” in valued sectors (downwardly mobile, clearly). They were all good people who helped her to feel a part of a dynamic educational community. But after accumulating years of street ‘cred and few transferable skills, Miss Cheapist quickly learned that the only way to make more money was to become a principal. Unfortunately, she did not have the same drive as those who had taught for only few years and felt qualified to run a school, or others who could really serve as vanguards in their own communities. The thought of starting up a whole institution from scratch and carving away a cult of personality in the name of school reform seemed even less suitable for Miss Cheapist than finding work on Wall Street. She was never a fan of reinventing the wheel.

So will cheapism sustain her? Is it realistic to make a difference, but not make a dime? The new climate of transforming the public sector into a “business model,” has pushed for a new language of quantification, and forced all employees to become professional fundraisers and data hounds. Few went into the field for that kind work, especially not to receive lower pay than real bean counters! To many it seems like a wasted investment on education to toil away in the world of middle-management at ones community grassroots organization, and watch CEOs become Executive Directors of the United Ways of the world. Her skepticism depresses Miss Cheapist more than her paycheck. Perhaps she would feel better and develop some real ambitions if there was more respect assigned to the field, and if others could recognize that she doesn’t get paid less--others just get paid far too much! In the meantime, she just has to stay cheap. And maybe get better at math.