In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands. To start, Putnam writes about David, a middle class boy that grew …show more content…
She would mostly be alone and sit by herself being buried in books or watching cartoons. In high school she attended a program for troubled adolescents and from there she received a wide range of support from helping her get braces to helping her get information to attend community college. (59) Even with this she was already too emotionally unstable due to her family issues and felt like she couldn’t go through with her dreams to travel and even go into the art of culinary. She suffers from psychological problems such as depression and worries constantly about almost every aspect in her life from work to family to her boyfriend and just hopes that her life won’t go downhill. (60) Overall Kayla’s family structure shows how different is it now from it was in the 1950’s as divorce rates have risen and while before Kayla’s type of family structure was rare now it is becoming more common. This story helps illustrate the contributions of stress that children possess growing up in difficult homes in which they can’t put their own futures first they must, in some cases, take care of their guardian’s futures first or others around them. Again, this adds into the inequality that many face when it comes to being able to climb up the ladder and become successful regardless of where one
Kathy Harrison starts her personal story happily married to her childhood sweet heart Bruce. Kathy was living a simple life in her rural Massachusetts community home as the loving mother of three smart, kind, well-adjusted boys Bruce Jr., Nathan, and Ben. With the natural transitions of family life and the changes that come with career and moving, she went back to work as a Head Start teacher. Her life up until the acceptance of that job had been sheltered an idyllic. Interacting in a world of potluck suppers, cocktail parties, and traditional families had nothing in common with the life she would choose after she became a Head Start teacher.
In the great story of a young girls triumph over poverty, rejection and innumerable failures as a child, she will unfortunately never truly prosper as an adult in the world in which she lives. Our protagonist, Sara Smolinsky who is the youngest of the four Smolinsky girls, has the most motivation in life to be independent, and fend for herself. However to achieve this goal she would need to break loose of the family chain and peruse a life elsewhere. It appears she has done so as she runs away from home seeking an education. Six years or so go by and she has more than fulfilled her dream of independence, however as members of her family take on life threatening sickness she once again feels the need to come home, and falls back under the spell of family obligation. As for other characters in the book, the same problem with familial duties always interferes with what one truly wants.
With the right mindset, anybody can achieve successfulness. It doesn’t depend on the social ranking, amount of money, or any other factors. If somebody was brought up like Jeannette was, they could follow in her foot steps. With parents who offer out no help, it would require all the effort to come for the child wanting change. They cannot rely on anybody for help because it is rare and temporary. They also shouldn’t count of moving at such a young age, it was miracle even with Jeannette’s parents that they let leave. In a whole, Jeannette’s story can be achieved by anyone if they are up for the challenge. Liz’s story can relate to more children or teens around America. Many children have the struggle of drug addicted parents in tod...
Lichter,Daniel T. and David J. Eggebeen. 1987. “Rich kids, Poor kids: Changing Family Structure and Income Inequality Among American Children.” Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, 23-27 Aug., Cincinnati, OH. 12 May 2014
In her book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau argues out that the influences of social class, as well as, race result in unequal childhoods (Lareau 1). However, one could query the inequality of childhood. To understand this, it is necessary to infer from the book and assess the manner in which race and social class tend to shape the life of a family. As the scholar demonstrates, each race and social class usually has its own unique way of child upbringing based on circumstances. To affirm this, the different examples that the scholar presents in the book could be used. Foremost, citing the case of both the White and the African American families, the scholar advances that the broader economics of racial inequality has continued to hamper the educational advancement and blocks access to high-paying jobs with regard to the Blacks as opposed to the Whites. Other researchers have affirmed this where they indicate that the rate of unemployment among the African Americans is twice that of the White Americans. Research further advances that, in contrast to the Whites, for those African Americans who are employed, there is usually a greater chance that they have been underemployed, receive lower wages, as well as, inconsistent employment. This is how the case of unequal childhood based on race comes about; children from the Black families will continue residing in poverty as opposed to those from the white families.
Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone should stay in Sterling High School’s English 4 curriculum because it teaches the reader that recovering from a horrible situation is possible, also Beah’s complex literal devices he uses to express his situation opens it up to the mind of a more experienced reader.
Most parents want the best for their children: financially, emotionally, and physically. However, sometimes there are external barriers that prevent full growth in these areas. These are the limitations that no parent feels comfortable speaking about because all they do is bring back memories of attempted success, yet never quite reached. In Tillie Olsen’s narration, I Stand Here Ironing there is a mother who is concerned for her daughter, Emily after a full nineteen years have passed. She begins to remember what her socioeconomic standings represented through the eyes of Emily, who is only now like a blossomed flower. There were struggles from both ends. Mother had to raise her daughter without the father, who had left due to poverty and mother also had to continue working a job to provide for food and for other survival necessities, which seemed to affect Emily’s happiness- which mother is now reminiscing about. Set during the Great Depression, the reader can understand that there will be financial shortcomings and many challenges that go along with this
Under the Net starts with Jake-A writer, the protagonist, and the narrator of the novel, and Finn, his friend, being thrown out of the apartment that they have been living there for free for almost two years by their friend Madge, who is concerned that her new, rich lover would not like her having two males living with her. In response to that, Jake tries to find shelter by asking other friends. Throughout the story, Jake goes through a different series of events that leads him to change his view of life and himself. A theme throughout the novel is the idea of reflection. Murdoch uses first person narrative view, metaphor, and reflection and relationships with other characters to understand the reality if life.
...ion, for instance, can send their children to public or private universities. Thus leaving children whose parents lack the monetary access to only attending community colleges or just completely putting a halt to their educational process. This lack of mobility for children who cannot further their education, according to Bernstein’s study (2003), “[puts] a lid on the intergenerational progress that has long been a mainstay of the American experience” (p. 95). Bernstein’s research indicates a flaw to the American Dream because it does not provide an equal opportunity for the children of the poor, and without education they cannot move upward in the economic spectrum.
Class inequality and the death of the American dream is one of the most studied questions in political science research today. While many people may agree that inequality is a rampant problem, it is not so easy to find solutions. In his book, Dream Hoarders, Richard Reeves outlines the idea that he believes that the upper middle class are actively hoarding the American dream by instituting restrictive policies that are meant to keep their children successful while keeping the poor out. In the last two chapters, Reeves proposes seven public policy remedies that are designed to bridge the inequality gap to the American dream. These seven areas are increasing contraception education and access, expanding in-home social worker visits for parents, increasing teacher quality for poor children, restructuring how colleges are funded, abolishing exclusionary zoning, ending legacy admissions, and opening up internships. Most, if not all, of
America has forever long been looked upon as the land of opportunity, yet for just as long struggled with the actual attainment of equal opportunity by all of its citizens. The lines of this inequality have b...
Today 's generation have changed many ways since the beginning of the century. In “The American Family”, Stephanie Coontz discusses many situations that has occurred during the beginning of the 21st century and suggested solutions to solve those issues in the future. For instance, she argued that women are being treated unfairly, family are not discussing their problems openly, and institutions need to change to fit the families’ requirement. In “Complexity of Family Life among the Low-Income and Working Poor” Patricia Hyjer Dyk, argued that women still doesn’t have enough choices, low income families doesn’t have enough jobs, and Government are not helping many families. Dyk’s review of the scholarly research on low-income families support Coontz’ evaluations of the problems faced by 21st century families and the solutions Coontz recommends, like improving women 's lifestyle, discussing problems openly, improving institutions and changing institutions so it can to fit to fulfil families need. .
In “The Farmer’s Children,” Elizabeth Bishop uses different literary techniques to portray her theme. “The Farmer’s Children” tells the story of two young brothers, Cato and Emerson, who have to sleep in the cold in their father’s barn in order to protect the tools inside. These brothers also have to endure parental neglect from their stepmother and father which causes them to freeze to death in the barn. One technique that is used by Bishop is the characterization of the parents. In addition, Bishop uses an allusion, which is a reference to a work of art in another work of art, and symbolism to further show how the characterization of the parents affected the two brothers. In “The Farmer’s Children,” Bishop uses the characterization of the parents of Cato and Emerson, the allusion to “Hansel and Grethel,” and the symbolism of the stepmother’s snowflake quilt to portray the theme of how parental neglect can lead to negative consequences.
Imagine being a Jew during the Holocaust. Never knowing when or if you will be taken away to the camps. Going to bed in fear not knowing if you will wake up to the birds singing, or the sound of soldiers breaking down your door in the middle of the night. In “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and “The Diary of a Young Girl” the characters seem to find a glimpse of light in the darkness. The characters are persistent, optimistic, and positive throughout the stories.
In the novel, Out of My Mind, one observation was that people, doctors included, underestimated Melodies abilities in school and in life. For example, in one point in the novel Melody is faced with a teacher that couldn't accept that Moldy was intelligent. “ Melody does have mental and physical limitations” “You have to learn to accept that” (Draper 58). In this instance, Melodies teacher can't look past her limitations. Yes, Melody does have limitations but these limitations should not dictate how highly you think of Melody. Melody isn’t and never will be physically normal but she is still an 11 year little indian girl, who has gone through a lot more than any other 11 year old. A little later in the text, Melody had received a computer that