Charles B. Rangel, a U.S representative for New York, spoke confidently about the importance of the quality of an education can help, “fight a war on ignorance and poverty.” Rangel believed in education is important for all children to learn, and the quality of the education can affect how they are in the future to be successful adults. Just like Rangel’s impression on education, Robert D. Putnam would agree with Rangel that education is important. Robert D. Putnam wrote the book Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis stressing how important the current time we are living in the U.S and its future is in trouble due to unequal opportunities the future generation have and he provides solutions to fix these problems. There have been book reviews …show more content…
Putnam introduced the stories of two Latino family in the same state with the parents having somewhat similar backgrounds, but teachers from a school were able to push one family into having a better life. Both families have their children going to similar schools in terms of students attending and school faculty, but both schools provides education to two different social classes with one family being more successful than the other. Isabel Sawhill, an author who critiqued Putnam’s book, agrees with Putnam’s statement on the widening opportunity gap due to the quality of Schooling. Just like Putnam, Sawhill looked into the socioeconomic background the child’s family can provide with differing incomes, and acknowledged a higher income family will have more benefits than a lower income family will have and how it correlates with the success of the family’s future. She also mentioned how schools may not be a factor that contributes to the growing disparities, but used Putnam’s book as in example on how it can be part of the bigger solution to fix the problems such as school reforms for financing poorer schools or moving poorer students to better schools. Sawhill did a splendid job using Putnam’s book as a source that outlines that problems Putnam mentioned and how it could be …show more content…
However, this can be problematic since it only shows the extremes of both sides and not much in the middle. Nona Willis Aronowitz, and editor for The Guardian, agrees with Putnam on the expanding opportunity inequality, however, she criticized Putnam’s book and the issues he mentioned for why the opportunity gap is widening as “vaguely political”. Aronowitz indicated Putnam’s book is just “kvetching about the past” for a more pre-feminist, pre-civil rights era. School is mentioned how it is vaguely political due to a national daycare program was vetoed and was never mentioned again. As a result, Aronowitz condemned Putnam for not including exclusion, and she also attacked Putnam for being old and that these exclusions would certainly help the youth if mentioned. Aronowitz may have provided a fair point to disagreeing with Putnam, but she attacks Putnam for being a bit radical on how these issues are causing the problems and how it could be fixed. I personally disagree with Aronowitz and find that what Putnam mentioned in the text and his solution to help solve the opportunity gap American youths are facing today. Putnam’s solutions can be a helpful foundation for future youth to fix the problems that are happening right
In the concluding chapter, Holmes summarizes the purpose of his study and addresses the fact that he has become discouraged that there may be no hope for changes in the future (pg. 182). Holmes hopes that through activism and awareness the social inequalities and suffering of these people can someday
If her audience is to rely solely on her portrayal of Buchanan’s introduction to politics, then Buchanan’s later political career being sired by his desire to defend segregation on the basis of unwarranted government intervention on private life, then more evidence should be presented as to why Buchanan was a supporter of segregation must be
Susan B. Neumen’s main purpose or motivation in writing the article, “The American Dream: Slipping Away?” indicates that all children should be trained properly in education. Many people come to America because it captures opportunities and striving for better dreams. Even if they are in poverty or privilege everyone should be given the right resources to absorb and succeed. Although those who have achieve their dreams, the American Dream had become more problematic for many others to accomplish. Neuman also added research and statistics on parents and children in two neighboring cities how they are different.
Children are viewed as pure and full of potential, they are the future, so when he gives testimonies that their finical status already limits one child at such a young age concerns his audience because of the lost potential. Moreover, society has this belief that children have the right to be nurtured, especially in the United States, so Gladwell focuses on displaying the lack of care from the community for these children taps into the audience’s concern and desire for
After few hours reading, “The Sanctuary of School” was written by Lynda Barry, grew up in an interracial neighborhood in Seattle, Washington State. Then, I think this article was interesting to read. I love the way how she told us her past experience by using her own voice to lead us step by step get into her story, then she also shares us about her feeling and how it impacted to her future life. Plus, at the end, she argues that the government should not be cutting the school programs and art related activities. Those programs definitely do help the students and the parents as well.
The American Dream was created for all to be equal with the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A dream is a series of thoughts on possibilities one can attain, hence, only one can choose to believe in the American Dream and if it’s achievable. In particular, Steve Tobak’s article called The American Dream is Alive and Well focuses on the opportunity Americans have unlike others and that the dream is attainable by all who work for it. A book by John Winthrop called City Upon a Hill implies that all men are capable of anything if they put God first. The American dream should make life fuller for all, provide happiness, and lead every American to believe they can do anything.
Lastly, the speaker uses tone to reflect the disbelief of “The American Dream”. Hazel felt like fairy-tales are just dreams and there is a difference between dreams and reality. For example, “tryin ta climb” (7 & 8). Hazel symbolizes society’s representation of women in the past; uneducated, un-ambitious, and un-believing in themselves or others. Also, “Sohelpmegod” (10).
Most of his examples included a reference to race as the major factor contributing to the negative effects in society. This example of poor writing that ultimately undermines Buchanan’s own points when while examining American culture from the past to the present. Buchanan argues that the changing demographics in the United States contributes to the supposedly negative aspects in our lives. He states “Today, we Americans disagree over whether annihilating 45 million babies in the womb… is a mark of progress or a monstrous national evil…” (Buchanan 599).
The parts that stood out to me in this book were that the rate of neonatal deaths is higher in the United States than in any other developed country. I found this interesting because the idea that the old-fashioned theory has created some of the modern political beliefs of why a person may end up in a disadvantaged situation. Another part that stood out to me was when Abramsky hypothesized that if funds were spent on programs supporting individuals from the selected groups then less money would be spent on other government funded programs. Lastly, when Abramsky discussed the statistics about Bill Clinton lowering poverty rates from 15.1% to a little over 11% and then when Bush took over, the poverty rates rose again.
Jennifer L. Hochschild describes the American dream as “the soul of the nation.” She clearly illustrates the importance of the dream to American culture. So, what is the American dream according to Hochschild? She was referring to John Locke and his fantasy, then said “But the sentence evokes the unsullied newness, infinite possibility, limitless resources that are commonly understood to be the essences of the “American dream.” She also pointed out the flaws in the American dream and how at times the pursuit of it can lead to counterproductive outcomes not just for the individual but society as a whole.
Wiebe displays the reforms of the Progressive Era and the changes they were seeking. Wiebe describes the progressive reformers as, “the new middle class” (Robert H. Wiebe 80). Ultimately, this new middle class was looking to reorder the government by themselves. A major reoccurring theme was the focus on the children based on Wiebe’s view of the progressives. This is shown when Wiebe writes, “He united the campaigns for health, education, and a richer city environment, and he dominated much of the interest in labor legislation” (Robert H. Wiebe 82).
Over the years, a dream that changed the way the world saw the U.S. was created and it is the American Dream. As the years passed and the U.S. was developing the American Dream as well developed or as many say changed. The American Dream is a term that was introduced in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America (Kamp 2). The term “American Dream” started with a meaning that was reachable: “a better, richer and happier life for all citizens of every rank”(3). Throughout the years the term`s meaning changed dramatically.
When you think of the American Dream what do you think of. Some might think of coming from another country, going to college, or maybe becoming an owner of a business. There 's many definitions of The American Dream, everyone’s is different. I see the American Dream as a reality not so much of a dream these days. First thing I 'm going to talk about it what are some obstacles of reaching the American Dream, which groups of people have had trouble obtaining the dream, and why.
Social inequality is overlooked by many. It affects so many of us, though we have yet to realize how extreme it is. Lee argues in this novel how much stress social inequalities put on the black and white races throughout the 1930s. Although, social inequalities did not just affect different races, it also affected poor people and family backgrounds. These are proven in the novel multiple times through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the Cunninghams when the book is looked at more in
Annotated Bibliography Cohen, M. (2014, April 26). The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a dream. The Guardian, p. 00. “The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a dream” by Michael Cohen explains the perception of Americans towards the decline of the middle class. The article details how the middle class was viewed before the elections of President Obama, and how it’s viewed after the creation of the Affordable Care Act.