Today in class we continued to discuss the idea of the American Dream, most of us seem to agree that it is based on personal sentiments. However, Mr. Laz briefly mentioned an interesting point that I felt like addressing. He asked if we felt that there is an ‘American aristocracy’.
Most people pride themselves in the inclusiveness of the
In my personal opinion, I don’t think it is an intentional aristocracy (if that makes any sense). It just seems that the way our society works does not lend itself to a true ‘ruling of the masses’.
Jasmine mentioned today that children of affluent families have a better chance of getting into some of the more elite schools. I was at my SAT prep class the other night, and they were telling me some of the factors that contribute to getting into college (SAT scores, GPA, extracurricular activities etc) but the last thing they mentioned was the ‘do-any-of-the-buildings-have-your-last-name-on-them’ factor.
So, when children of lower class families don’t get into the top schools, or go to school at all, some people would argue that they aren’t receiving the proper education they need to make ‘well-informed’ decisions about…elections for example.
A single mother working three jobs is probably less inclined to vote than a stay at home mom living in an affluent community (such as my mom). People would argue that they should vote in order to help their situation, but I can see why to a single mother working three jobs, finding food to put on the table for your kids at night is a lot more important than picking the ‘lesser evil’ out of a pool of candidates that you will never meet or be directly impacted by.
I’m too lazy to look it up but is there any statistic showing if a certain amount of unregistered voters make below a certain income?
As always feel free to chip in.
5 comments:
Hey, it's Jasmine.
Today, Ben said that a person who goes to a high school in Camden and gets A's is as likely as anybody else to get into a good college. I definitely disagree with that and I think there is an 'American elite'. I also watched the 20/20 special on Camden that Allison mentioned today. One of the high schoolers they profiled wanted to work hard and go on to college, but he had to work to support his family and didn't get to start his homework until very late at night. Even if he managed to attend a good college, he would probably struggle with his classes because his high school courses were never as challenging as those of his peers. That's not to say that a kid from Camden can't move up the ranks and become wealthy (following the so-called "American Dream"), but it is much more difficult.
I agree with Donna; I don't think we have an "intentional" aristocracy. I don't think the wealthy deliberately oppress the poor. I think it's more like, people accept the aristocracy because they feel like they can't do anything about it, or they just don't care. My dad has a book called "The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges - and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates". The author, Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Golden, gives specific examples of rich families that basically bought their way into elite colleges. Think about it: a college would be out of its mind to reject a Bush or a Kennedy. At the same time, a student who worked extremely hard and received stellar grades might be rejected.
Lastly (sorry this comment is so long), we talked about successful American Dream stories - like Bill Gates. The thing we have to remember about Bill Gates is that he came from a wealthy family (he went to one of the best prep schools in Seattle). So yes, he did work extremely hard, but he had a lot of resources at his disposal to begin with. So I'd have to say that the American Dream is slanted - it's easy for the rich to become richer but the poor have to work MUCH harder to break into the American aristocracy.
Hey, it's Erin.
I have to disagree with the statement that the American Dream is slanted. I don't think that you can really define it because it's different for everybody. Is the American Dream getting rich? Maybe for some people, but certainly not for everyone. Maybe it's harder for some people to become rich but maybe that's not their goal. After all, they say money doesn't buy happiness and it doesn't guarantee success either. A person might get into an elite college because of their parents' money but they might not be able to do the work and have to drop out.
Does anyone feel the same frustration that I do with the current system? I mean, the sense that college entrance is almost out of our control? You may get a decent SAT grade and do fairly well in your high school classes. You will probably stack up to the thousands of other kids applying to the same school that you're applying to. But because one kid's parents are both "supportive contributing alumni" (i.e. paid for the new athletic center) they have an advantage over you that you cannot do anything to counter. Although we resent it, we accept the American Aristocracy because we know there is nothing we can do to change it. Let's face it - someone had to pay for the new athletic center. If it wasn't this kid's parents it would just be someone else. We are upset by it but don't act on our resentment because we realize the futility in doing so.
One last thought and the "American Dream." I think we need to define it. I know, I know - you can't actually apply one absolute definition to a word. But if we are going to get anywhere we can't continue to chase each other around in verbal circles. I suggest that the American Dream is working up from rags to riches, obtaining success or wealth by means of hard work and determination. That is the AMERICAN dream. Others may have different dreams - parenthood, traveling the world, etc. But these should be classified as aspirations, not variations of the American Dream.
Hey, it's Erin again.
One quick question: what exactly does everyone mean by "American aristocracy"? Obviously we don't have a "true"aristocracy, so is it just people who are wealthy? How wealthy?
It's not just their wealth, but their role in the government. Basically what I believe is those who are wealthy have a more active role in the government.(I said I didn't think it was an 'intentional' Aristocracy though)
I mean, just look at how much money needs to be spent on compaigining. There are some things that you just can't do if you don't have the money...or a way to get access to the money.
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