An Exemplary Example of a Mediocre Paper

Stephanie Zulman

Introductory Sociology

Michelle Edwards

25 November 2013

I Got It From My Momma

I’d have to say one of the largest key factors that has determined what types of doors I’ve been able to open in life would be my economic status. How much money you or your family possesses can become a big fat part of anyone’s life that can be truly impossible to hide. For me, tangible aspects of this spans from the type of pricey clothes I wear, to the expensive university at which I attend, to the credit card clutched in my palm as I go to pay for a lunch at Sol de Luna at least once a week. Yet, as much as I am spoiled, there are many aspects of my personality that would suggest that I’m just the opposite. I’ve even had one of my best friends comment to me once, to my surprise, that she would never have guessed the degree of my family’s wealth based on how I act. Her exact word was “humble.” Although I wouldn’t necessarily agree with using that exact term, it did lead me to start to recognize the differences between many affluent girls my age and myself. Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m not spoiled, yet I don’t believe that that alone has been a key determinant in the type of person that I have become. Some of the most defining parts of my personality that have helped lead to my achievements in life, center around how my mother raised me. The knowledge of her actual humble background has helped influenced my work ethic and has given me humility for all that I have ever been given.

My mother’s background and the values she grew up with have sprouted some of, in my opinion, the most important parts of my work ethic and value system. I am constantly told that my mother, Colleen Zulman, looked identical to me at my age. Now that may be so, but the kind of life she lived was a polar opposite from my cushy American one. For one thing, her socioeconomic class was much lower than the one she’s raising me in. Colleen was a South African farm girl who still...