Lies: The Land of Opportunity (Ch.7)

Sanne Bergh
Eng48A
Journal for "Lies my Teacher Told Me"
Oct. 7, 2011


Author Quote
"Since history textbooks present the American past as four hundred years of progress and portray our society as a land of opportunity in which folks get what they deserve and deserve what they get, the failures of working-class Americans to transcend their class origin inevitably get laid at their own doorsteps".

Internet Quote
"For a variety of reasons to be here explored, inequality in the United States has increased to the extent that the gap between the rich and poor is larger now than at time since 1928--greater than that of any industrialized nation"(http://www.trinity.edu/mkearl/strat.html). 

Brief Summary of What the Author is Saying
There is a quote at the beginning of the chapter that states "Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can't buy enough to eat". The socioeconomic gap between the people of the American population is bigger than our current textbooks make it out to be. In the 1950s, America was the land of opportunity and possibility but this idea has quickly transformed into anything but a dream. There are people who are living paycheck to paycheck, who cannot afford to advance their lives and who are stuck in a cycle.

Your Idea/Reactions/Responses to the Author's Ideas
The textbooks may not provide sufficient evidence as to the current social structure of our country, but I believe that is has to be some teachers duties to inform students of the current conditions while they are getting their educations. Students are apart of vicious cycle in which they cannot escape their socioeconomic status, and if so, this happens rarely. Kindergartners everywhere are being duped when they are told that they can one day become president. In the last month, there was a protest in New York that was protesting the economical inequality in this country. Students are obtaining Bachelor degrees only to find themselves unemployed and up to their shoulders in debt. People are unable to retire because they cannot afford to. Opportunities for improvement have shrank to a small size. Poverty is more real than ever in today's time, and our government is blaming the people for not pushing themselves harder. How hard is the population supposed to work to retain their sanity and financial well-being? The American dream is an illusion. On the other side of the spectrum, we see people who work in the entertainment business, i.e. Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, making millions. We read in People Magazine that these people just bought another villa in the South of France, or their sixteenth Porche. There is an obvious disproportion in wealth throughout the United States, as the poor pay more taxes than the rich. Not only are they rubbing their wealth in everybody's faces, but it is simply unfair. Why do some people work seventy hour weeks with no vacation and Jennifer Aniston goes on eight vacations a year? We need equality.