“I really enjoy playing the piano. I took lessons throughout middle school, but I had to drop the lessons. I actually got too busy, but I hope to pick up the lessons when I'm in college if I can.” IfsI CanSchoolEnjoyMiddleCollegeLessonsPicksBusyPianoToo BusyMiddle School Author:Miranda Leek
“We're going to have to invest in the American people again, in tax cuts for the middle class, in health care for all Americans, and college for every young person who wants to go. In businesses that can create the new energy economy of the future. In policies that will lift wages and will grow our middle class. These are the policies I have fought for my entire career.” PeopleWantPersonsCareYoungEnergyGrowsClassCareersEconomyCuttingMiddlePolicyCollegeTaxesHealth CareLiftsMiddle ClassWagesTax CutsNew Energy Author:Barack Obama
“That's the fun part of it all. You get creative when you're in Little League. You're creative when you're in middle school. You're creative in high school and college. And then when you get to the league, this position, the more mobile quarterbacks, we have a tendency to want to become traditional and nervous and panicky in how we want to call plays and put guys in position to make plays.” WantLittlesPlaySchoolGuyFunCreativityCreativeMiddlePositionCollegeHigh SchoolTraditionalTendenciesNervousLeagueMobileQuarterbackMiddle SchoolLittle League Author:Kordell Stewart
“By making college more affordable for all and more accessible for minority students, the first new higher education authorizing legislation in a decade will help strengthen our nation and America's middle class, and spur a new age of innovation and ingenuity in our country.” FirstsCountryHelpingAgeAmericaNationsClassMiddleStudentsCollegeHigherInnovationDecadesOur CountryMinoritiesMiddle ClassLegislationNew AgeAffordableIngenuitySpursHigher Education Author:Nancy Pelosi
“The image the Republicans have of themselves needs the image they have of the Democrats to bring it into sharp focus. The Democrats are plainly a disreputable crowd; the Republicans, by contrast, are men of standing and sobriety. Many a middle-class American in many a small town has had to explain painfully why he chose to be a Democrat. No middle-class American need feel uneasy as a Republican. Even when he is a minority--for example, among the heathen on a college campus--he can, like any white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, warm himself before his little fire of self-esteem.” MenNeedsFeelsLittlesSelfWhiteClassFireFocusMiddleSelf EsteemExampleCollegeRepublicanStandingTownsDemocratCrowdsWarmEsteemMinoritiesMiddle ClassContrastSmall TownProtestantsSobrietyCampusUneasyHeathenAnglo SaxonCollege Campus Author:Clinton Rossiter
“In the sixties, in the middle sixties, suddenly comics became this hip thing, and college students and hippies were reading them. So I was one of them, and I started reading, basically it was the Marvel Renaissance at that point. It was all their new characters, Spiderman and the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.” MenCharacterReadingFourMiddleStudentsCollegeFantasticHipsSixtyHippieRenaissanceX MenCollege StudentsFantastic Four Author:Trina Robbins
“My love of horses began in College Park, with me and 10 friends on two couches and a keg of beer in the back of a truck, heading to Pimlico at 6 A.M. to mark our place in the middle of the Preakness infield, where we never saw a horse run.” TwoRunningSawsMiddleCollegeHorseMarkBeerParksTruckCouchesHeadingsKegs Author:Kevin Plank
“Looking back over a decade one sees the ideal of a university become a myth, a vision, a meadow lark among the smoke stacks. Yet perhaps it is there at Princeton, only more elusive than under the skies of the Prussian Rhineland or Oxfordshire; or perhaps some men come upon it suddenly and possess it, while others wander forever outside. Even these seek in vain through middle age for any corner of the republic that preserves so much of what is fair, gracious, charming and honorable in American life.” MenAgeEducationVisionForeverSkyMiddleCollegeFairsIdealsUniversityCornersMythDecadesWanderSmokeVainPreservesRepublicLooking BackCharmingHonorableMiddle AgesGraciousElusiveMeadowsAmerican LifeLarksPrincetonColleges And Universities Author:F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Community colleges provide higher education where people live, helping to build strong ladders of opportunity that allow people to secure a foothold in the middle class.” PeopleHelpingOpportunityStrongCommunityClassMiddleCollegeHigherSecureMiddle ClassLaddersHigher EducationCommunity College Author:Thomas Perez
“Our approach to education has remained largely unchanged since the Renaissance: From middle school through college, most teaching is done by an instructor lecturing to a room full of students, only some of them paying attention.” DoneSchoolRoomsAttentionTeachingMiddleStudentsCollegeApproachPay AttentionRenaissanceMiddle SchoolInstructorsLecturing Author:Daphne Koller
“I feel like today we always glorify the young, just-plucked-from-college writer. But it's much harder to start writing later, in middle age, struggling on a book around a full-time job and family.” FeelsWritingBookAgeTodayJobsYoungStruggleMiddleCollegeHarderMiddle AgesGlorifyFull Time Jobs Author:Toni Morrison
“If we wanted a program to help the majority of the population, we'd offer loan guarantees to help poor people get access to reliable cars so that they could have a better shot at getting - and keeping - a well-paying job...A small amount of capital could make a much bigger difference in their lives than extra student loan relief for middle-class college kids would.” PeopleIfsWellsHelpingRealityKidsWantedJobsPoliticsCommunityDifferencesWorkPoorMoneyEducationClassPovertyMiddleCarPolicyStudentsCollegeAmountOffersShotsProgramBiggerMajorityStrategyPropertyPopulationAccessExtrasGuaranteesReliefMiddle ClassPoor PeopleLoanSmall AmountsHelp The PoorStudent LoanHelp Poor People Author:Megan McArdle
“Poor people in America today (people who are officially in poverty) have a higher standard of living - in terms of medical standards, in terms of going to college, in terms of the way people live - than middle class people did thirty years ago.” PeopleWayYearsTodayAmericaTermPoorClassPovertyMiddleCollegeHigherStandardsYears AgoMedicalThirtyMiddle ClassPoor PeopleThirty YearsStandards Of LivingAmerica TodayHigher StandardsGoing To College Author:Michael Medved
“One of the things that is nice about these old pastors - they were young at the time - who went into the Middle West is that they were real humanists. They were often linguists, for example, and the schools that they established were then, as they are now, real liberal arts colleges where people studied the humanities in a very broad sense. I think that should be reflected in his mind; appropriately, it is.” PeopleThinkingShouldMindArtRealSchoolYoungHumanityNiceMiddleExampleCollegeWestBroadsPastorLiberal ArtsLinguistsLiberal Arts College Author:Marilynne Robinson
“Every single thing I`ve done, from the Affordable Care Act to pushing to raise the minimum wage, to making sure that young people are able to go to college and get good job training, to what we`re pushing now in terms of sick paid leave,everything I do has been focused on how do we make sure the middle class is getting a fair deal.” PeopleHas BeensDoneCareAbleJobsYoungTermDealsClassMiddleCollegeTrainingFairsSickPaidRaisesFocusedMiddle ClassPushingMinimumGood JobAffordableMinimum WageAffordable Care ActJob Training Author:Barack Obama
“As long as I'm dealing in honesty, I may as well admit that I have been more influenced (as a person) by my childhood readings of Tolkien and Lewis than I have been by any philosophers I read in college and grad school. The events and characters in Narnia and Middle Earth shaped my ideals, my dreams, my goals. Kant just annoyed me.” WellsMayPersonsLongHas BeensCharacterDreamSchoolEarthReadingGoalChildhoodMiddleEventsHonestyCollegeIdealsPhilosopherAnnoyedNarniaGradMiddle EarthGrad School Author:N.D. Wilson
“Essentially what my campaign is about, it`s about anything, this is saying we`ve got bring that money back into the middle class and working families. We have to create jobs, we have to raise, we have to make public colleges and universities tuition free so kids in that community who are studying hard understand that some day they will be able to go to college.” HardKidsAbleJobsCommunityClassStudyMiddleCollegeRaisesUniversityCampaignsMiddle ClassTuitionColleges And Universities Author:Bernie Sanders
“Do we substantially increase military spending and prepare for endless war in the middle-east, or do we make college affordable for all Americans, regardless of income. My answer: I will soon be introducing legislation that will make public colleges and universities tuition free.” WarAnswersMiddleMilitaryCollegeIncreaseUniversitySpendingEastEndlessIncomeMiddle EastIntroducingLegislationAffordableTuitionColleges And UniversitiesEndless WarMilitary Spending Author:Bernie Sanders
“I wrote poetry in middle school and high school and even through college. It was bad. I just don't think I'm very good at writing poetry. I mean, the distillation, I think, is hard for me, but I love poetry.” ThinkingWritingMeanHardSchoolMiddleCollegeHigh SchoolVery GoodLove PoetryMiddle SchoolWriting PoetryDistillation Author:Jesmyn Ward
“What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college.” WantKidsAbleClassMiddleCollegeTrumpMiddle Class Author:Hillary Clinton
“What has worked for America is not caring about how the rich are doing, or the politics of envy. What's worked for America is growth. Growth is the reason why I had a very nice middle class upbringing with parents who never went to college.” ReasonAmericaParentGrowthClassRichNiceMiddleCollegeCaringEnvyReason WhyMiddle ClassUpbringingVery NiceNot Caring Author:Anthony Scaramucci
“Growing our economy means allowing individuals, and particularly those in the middle class, to be able to keep more of their money. It also means that people in the middle class and modest incomes to be able to pay for their retirement, to get a down payment for a home, to send a child to college.” PeopleMeanChildrenHomeAbleIndividualPayClassEconomyGrowingMiddleCollegeIncomeMiddle ClassRetirementAllowingModestPayment Author:Mitt Romney
“The United States has got to join the rest of the industrialized world in making sure that working families of the middle class have benefits that they absolutely need. We are the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right. We are the only major country on Earth that does not provide paid family and medical leave. There are many countries around the world which make sure that public colleges and universities are tuition-free. In our country, it's becoming increasingly difficult to afford to go to college.” PeopleWorldNeedsDoeCountryStatesCareEarthDifficultUnitedClassUnited StatesMiddleCollegeBecomingBenefitsMajorsPaidUniversityMedicalOur CountryAround The WorldHealth CareGuaranteesMiddle ClassTuitionColleges And Universities Author:Bernie Sanders
“There are only two ways to have a middle class in your country: either you have highly skilled manufacturing jobs, or you have a highly skilled, well trained, knowledge-based workforce. In other words, college.” WayWellsTwoCountryJobsClassMiddleCollegeMiddle ClassTwo WaysManufacturingWorkforce Author:Van Jones
“I came from an educated, upper middle-class family. My mother was a Persian and history teacher at a large high school for girls. Many of the women in my extended family and in our circle of friends were professionals. In those days, women were a vital part of the economy in Kabul. They worked as lawyers, physicians, college professors, etc., which makes the tragedy of how they were treated by the Taliban that much more painful.” SchoolMotherGirlClassEconomyTeacherMiddleCollegeHigh SchoolTragedyPainfulLawyerCirclesTreatedEducatedEtcMiddle ClassProfessorsPhysiciansTalibanPersianExtended FamilyCircle Of FriendsMiddle Class FamilyKabulUpper Middle ClassCollege ProfessorsHistory Teacher Author:Khaled Hosseini
“I think there are many people in the working class who say, you know what? Yes, maybe we are better off than we were eight years ago, but I am still working two or three jobs, my kid can't afford to go to college, I can't afford child care, my real wages have been going down for 40 years. The middle class is shrinking. Who's standing up for me?” PeopleThinkingKnowsYearsChildrenHas BeensStillsI CanTwoRealCareKidsJobsThreeClassMiddleCollegeYears AgoStandingEightMiddle ClassWorking ClassWagesBetter OffShrinkingChild Care Author:Bernie Sanders
“I want to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for everyone else.” WantClassMiddleCollegeDebtMiddle ClassTuitionDebt FreeCollege Tuition Author:Hillary Clinton
“For students today, only 10 percent of children from working-class families graduate from college by the age of 24 as compared to 58 percent of upper-middle-class and wealthy families.” InspirationalChildrenAgeTodayFunnyClassMiddleStudentsCollegePercentMiddle ClassWealthyGraduatesGraduationWorking ClassUpper Middle ClassStudents Today Author:Patrick J. Kennedy
“Middle-class white children, children of privilege, are afforded the opportunity to make a lot of mistakes and still go on to college, still dream big dreams. But for kids who are born in the ghetto in the era of mass incarceration, the system is designed in such a way that it traps them, often for life.” WayChildrenStillsDreamBigsKidsOpportunityBornWhiteMistakeClassMiddleCollegeGoes OnMassPrivilegeErasMiddle ClassTrapsGhettoIncarcerationMass Incarceration Author:Michelle Alexander
“In the 1990s - the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war - nearly 80 percent of the increase in drug arrests was for marijuana possession, a drug less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and at least, if not more, prevalent in middle class white neighborhoods and college campuses as it is in the 'hood.” IfsWarWhiteClassMiddleCollegePeriodsDrugPercentIncreasePossessionAlcoholMiddle ClassNeighborhoodMarijuanaTobaccoHoodCampusWar On DrugsCollege CampusEscalation Author:Michelle Alexander
“It's funny to see my friends going through that middle-age thing about losing their hair. I went through it in college. They all say, "Oh my God, I'm getting old. I'm never getting laid again." Shut up. Yes, you are.” AgeMiddleCollegeHairLosingMy FriendsShut UpGetting OldMiddle AgesGetting Laid Author:Kenny Chesney
“I went off to college, a good, middle-class, very proper college, a Brethren institution, where two years of Bible study are required for graduation. It was a good, sound, thorough, but completely biased evaluation of the Bible, and I was delighted with it, because it helped to document my doubts; it gave me a framework within which I could be critical.My independent study continued for 20 years after this. So I do know the Bible very well from a Protestant point of view.” KnowsYearsWellsTwoSoundViewsClassStudyDoubtMiddleCollegeIndependentInstitutionsCriticalPoint Of ViewMiddle ClassTwo YearsDocumentsFrameworkDelightedProtestantsThoroughBible StudyBrethrenBiasedEvaluationOff To College Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair
“I went into the Army, and one day, in the middle of a bull session, somebody called me an atheist. Believe it or not, it was the first time I'd ever heard the word. It goes to show you how a person can grow up in America and have a college education and still not know a goddamned thing.” KnowsFirstsBelievePersonsStillsShowsAmericaGrowsGrowing UpHeardMiddleCollegeOne DayFirst TimeArmyAtheistSessionBullsCollege Education Author:Madalyn Murray O'Hair