Every American is equal under the law and they can all quote you their rights, but many do not realize that political participation and civic involvement are a duty and not an option. In order for our American Constitutional Republic to thrive into the future and not just survive or coast by, we must all become more active and involved in both civic organizations and the political process. One of the major factors contributing to a lack of participation is the decline of the American family and family values. Former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan blames the increase in deviant behavior on the increase of single parent families in the United States. It is easy to see how the decline of the traditional family can lead to an increase in deviance.
Because American culture is based on people’s desire to succeed at all cost, this negatively affects their values. A negative effect on integrity, morality, and ethics means contempt of these three concepts. Ethics are society’s normal view of morals, morals are spoken beliefs about what is right and wrong, and integrity of an individual’s ability to uphold these standards of morality and ethics. However, American society is focused on winning at all cost and this sometimes displaces a person’s integrity, morals and ethics. Americans do not care about have integrity as long as they win.
Education: How the Nation Stays Afloat and the Students Sink American culture plays a critical role in how our educational systems were designed. American culture has created the myth that is, without a formal education, success, creativity and individuality are impossible to achieve. However, schools are not assisting the students in their pursuit of success and individuality. The educational system was produce with another mission in mind; suppress the student’s intelligence and creativity, increase funds with Corporate America by manipulating the handicap schools and assign each student a social role and aid them in developing that role only. Schools are not as helpful as we may have perceived, they discreetly create docile citizens by giving the illusion that the system is developing each student.
Izzo 1 Caitlyn Izzo Professor Stevens English 102 4 March 2012 Views of the “American Dream” The “American Dream” is something all of us as Americans aim or hope to achieve everyday of our lives. We all create this ideal life for ourselves in our heads, and while some of us are not willing to work for it, many of us are and hope our hard work and determination pays off in the future. The “American Dream” is a major theme in the famous novel by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman. Throughout the course of the story, we realize that the main character, Willy Loman has blind faith in what he perceives to be the “American Dream.” To Willy Loman, the “American Dream” is being a well-liked, personally attractive business man whose hard work and success has earned him the material comforts, or the “finer things” in life. Unfortunately, his preoccupation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and popularity is at odds with a more realistic and rewarding perception of the “American Dream,” and this identifies that hard work without complaints is the key to success.
One of the problems with this popular culture is that so many Americans have a sense of entitlement. Gone are the days when rewards were the result of hard work. This sense of entitlement based ethics means that we feel that we have a right to things—a nice home, a well paying job, new car and an easy life. We see no reason that they shouldn’t be given to us, just by being--we are entitled. We are a culture of complainers.
Transcendentalism Essay In today’s society, the most successful people are not usually the most likeable and popular. They also don’t do the usual things that are expected from average people, whom are not successful. This special quality makes them stand out in the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, “To be great is to be misunderstood”, which shows that the great, successful people in society may not fit in. To be great, people must be hard working, have good work ethic, and not care what others think of them for their actions.
In the perfect society, Plato believes that it is necessary for rulers to occasionally refrain from telling the whole truth. He explains why it is in the best interest of the governing class to lie to its working classes in order to maintain the structure of power. First, he discusses his reasoning behind The Guardian class. His system of rulers is based on individual ability, unlike most ruling systems where the people in charge become so based off of family history and financial status (in The Republic, Guardians are not specifically wealthy or poor, as he believes either circumstance would render them unable to accomplish their work). Plato's society is one built around excellence and formed under an aristocratic class that thrives off of the necessity to be as first-rate as possible.
Gatsby is closely related to the American Dream, which is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America if they just work hard enough. Gatsby comes from a poor background and due to social inequality, he was unable to marry the love of his life, Daisy. This drives Gatsby do anything to move up the social ladder and partake in illegal activities to do so. Although in the end, “The Great Gatsby’s meditation on The American Dream is the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach”, regarding Gatsby’s introduction, with him reaching out towards the green light. – (Wulick, 2016)3 In the book, Jay Gatsby, the character, is so unfathomable, so much a conjecture of the novel's narrator, and yet Leonardo DiCaprio makes him understandable and genuine.
A massive variety of people take the opportunity to come to America and start a life here for themselves and/or their families. Undeniably the environment here is much better for raising a family, and the threats are fewer. However, this does not alter the fact that the American social structure makes it extremely difficult for immigrants to succeed. This “dream land” the United States is known for being is simply failing, and a lie for the majority of foreign citizens. Pat Mora’s poem entitled Immigrants is a very accurate representation of this point.
All for their child’s best intentions or to possibly avoid that “empty nest” feeling they first get when sending their five year old into the big unpredictable world. So why choose public school? The place that will take your child away from you for eight hours a day, leave them vulnerable, and eventually lead them into adulthood. There are many benefits to public school like the academics provided, the social life, the diversity of people and teachers, and the many opportunities that homeschooling cannot provide. Teaching your child is probably an amazing experience and by doing so you give your child more independence academically, but almost anyone can teach home school.