Ranting On...Urban Privilege

I rarely get angry.  I am frequently championing a cause in a 90-second speech no one asked for, or will get indignant on behalf of a friend or a cause, but once I left my teenage years behind and came out of the closet, my reaction to something is rarely to take it personally and certainly not to be angry on behalf of myself.  However, there is one key exception, and that is illustrated by a conversation I had a few years ago with a dear friend.

It was at a party during the 2012 Olympics, and like most Summer Olympics, my thoughts turned to the one sport I was ever any good at, which is swimming.  I was chatting about how I used to, when I was in high school, spend up to two hours every day swimming and wished that I had had a chance to do more with it.  One of my friends made a comment afterwards, citing that most high school swimmers who are competitive actually swim way more than two hours a day, and that that wasn't really impressive.  She continued to talk about her experience with several friends in high school who swam, and I stayed rather livid at her, to the point that one of my other friends in the room whispered after she left the room, "I get it, but just let it go," which I did, at least in appearance.

I don't blame my friend for this in hindsight, and blame myself for not being stronger at articulating why I was upset, and it may seem silly to talk about something so late after-the-fact but it was an illustration of something that I don't think people are culturally aware of that is a form of inequality in society today: that of urban privilege.  Frequently you hear about examples of white privilege, male privilege, straight privilege, but rarely do you get something along the lines of geography, and yet it's something that I think I notice more and more as I get older, particularly as I now live in an urban area but still have a large amount of my family and several close friends that live and work in rural America.

There is, of course, a reason that people continually move from rural settings to urban settings, and it's not just because they like the noise.  Urban settings afford opportunities that simply outweigh rural settings.  Not only is there more opportunity for financial growth (even if you don't count in geographical inflation), but you have access to more as a result of that growth, including better healthcare options, more access to arts/sports/leisure, and most importantly, educational opportunities.

This last topic is something that I've argued with many friends over through the years in various settings, and it's something that doesn't quite sink in, which is admittedly a side effect that occasionally happens with conversations about privilege (which, while always important, are also fraught with worry about seeming accusing rather than sharing/informing).  I grew up in a very small town in rural Minnesota.  Frequently when people hear that they focus on what it was like being gay in a small town (that's a post for a different time...suffice it to say, it wasn't great), but the reality is that there were other aspects that far outweighed being closeted.  Whether or not I had been gay, my interests in film or politics were not something that was going to be celebrated and (more to the point) not going to be cultivated.  Rural schools, because of their limited resources, rarely can afford much beyond the basic curriculum.  You're lucky if a school offers a foreign language, much less a class specifically regarding politics or the arts, and most outside of school clubs (which in an urban environment would shore up this gap) are focused on trying to keep an athletics program going, with very few geared toward additional academic pursuits.  The community is also small enough that any programs pale in comparison to those provided by a major library, museum, or non-profit in a metropolitan area.  These things add up-the only school group, for example, that I was able to partake in outside of band that would allow me to travel to a statewide or nationwide competition that would be included in my transcripts was a business-club, something I joined at the time not because I had any interest in business, but because it was really the only option to spruce up my resume with something outside of a twenty-mile radius.

These lack of resources do affect students in gaining upward mobility against their urban peers.  A transcript looks better with extracurriculars and a more diverse palette of volunteering opportunities, and to be competitive in gaining access to major schools in the country, where that salary-imbalance is going to be pronounced (tuition at Dartmouth costs the same regardless of whether you get the advantage of an urban or a rural salary), you need to be able to stand-out.  SAT scores aren't going to be the only way to stand apart, and even there urban areas have in-person classes for SAT scores, rather than just online.  Unless you have the luxury of a parent who can traverse you across the country (or an extra car) you go into the academic world with a disadvantage, even if you apply.  Like many aspects of privilege, recognition of your disadvantage sets you up for lowered expectations, and you're less likely to even apply for an out-of-state school because you know that your odds aren't great.  In my school, despite many bright students with strong college entrance-exam tests, only one person didn't stay in-state or an immediate neighboring state for their educational pursuits.  In fact, most students stayed within a 100-mile radius of their hometown, despite the fact that most of the best schools even in this limited geographical boundary were outside of that area.

Urban privilege goes to other aspects of the economy as well.  If you lose your job in an urban community, it is deeply challenging, but there are other, likely similarly-themed, companies that are also in the area.  Rural communities live-and-die based on maybe 1-3 plants, factories, or industries.  If a local company or organization starts to fire individuals, those individuals are almost certainly going to have to move or travel a great distance from their homes to get a new employment.  Also, considering that many people will move, the closing of a plant can have a drastic hit on the overall economy, where things like schools and hospitals are driven largely by the size of the populace.  Real estate prices also take a hit if there is less value to the community-we frequently think of our homes as being our most valuable assets, but they become considerably less valuable in a city with no schools or medical facilities, and when you rely on that home to purchase a different home in a larger community, that can mean a big economic step back.

And the last point I want to put here is that the reality is that rural communities are still integral to today's society, particularly when it comes to farming and mining.  While there have been multiple advances in food and energy production, we are still not institutionally ready to give up farming and mining in smaller areas around the country in order to meet these needs.  Therefore, it's important that we recognize that families and workers are needed in the communities, and that like all forms of privilege, we must acknowledge that urban privilege does exist, and that we should take steps to correct this inequality.