The university phrase "I majored in literature, science, or history" is a middle-class expression while the upper class prefers to say, "I read literature, science, or history at X University."

 

The differences here are striking: the upper class never believes it has actually "majored" a topic, while the middle class can seldom claim to have seriously "read" all the great classics and seminal works in any important academic field.

 

This fundamental difference in education remains a cause of the widening gap between upper and middle class.

 

Indeed, education is a major determining factor of the contemporary (and historical) class divide.

 

It is the ability to think metaphorically (to in fact consider everything both literally and metaphorically) and to automatically seek out and consider the various potential meanings of all things, that most separates the culture of the "haves" from the global "have nots."