Core Values : Reward Offered Essay

I have always known that never giving up is important to being successful. Through the National Honor Society, I

I know in everyday life that there are countless examples of commitments that you have to see through to the end. To me the most meaningful example in my life would have to be college. I started community college feeling so behind, as a 24 year old with only a G.E.D., I knew that when I started I needed to go through with it. I thought that if I let myself mess this up I’d never have the courage to begin again. Once I was in school I never stopped, I attended summer courses and completed 10 terms straight before I earned my A.A.O.T. I can’t say that I feel anywhere near the end of my educational journey, and I hope I never do, but I did see community college through to the end.

It has been a growing journey that I am sure that many students have gone through. Perseverance has become my best friend in making it this far. I take pride on being in the top ten in my class, in being chosen by my principal to be part of the student advisory council in my school district, to be a leader in my school’s music program, in being president of the ambassadors of my school’s magnet program, and being accepted into the 2016 Youth Leadership Institute. It is without a doubt that I am going to be overcoming my mental health. Fear now has an off switch in my

Out of some of the most turbulent times in history have come the greatest ages of success and prosperity. The 1920’s and 1950’s are two eras that exemplify the spirit of triumph and wealth. In both decades, a nation thrilled by the victorious conclusion of war and the return of their loved ones from war entered into an age of capitalism and materialism, bolstering the economy and with it national pride. Some of features most common to the 20’s and 50’s were consumerism and the accompanying optimistic mindset, the extent to which new ideas entered society, and discrimination in terms of both sexism and racism.

Coontz analyses both the weakness and strengths of the period and takes a ‘sarcastic’ approach. She is able to indicate the ideal time for the Americans pointing positive outlooks such as education, birthrate, economic expansion, jobs, family oriented culture and social environment. Her weakness about the myth of the 1950s includes teen pregnancies, poverty, marital problems, discrimination, racial and gender inequalities. She attacks the political system who continues states the goods of the 1950s but the politicians have not created and advanced the ideals and optimism of the 1950s. She categorically attacks the perceptions of people saying the 1950s was good even though when compared to the freedoms and engagements of these days, the 1950s’ thinkers are misplaced. The following quote summarizes her perspective, “This confidence that almost everyone could look forward to a better future stands in sharp contrast to how most contemporary Americans feel, and it explains why a period which many people were much worse off than today sometimes still looks like a better period for families than our own” (p. 40). Based on the historical and available information, Coontz argument may suffice because currently, nobody thinks about the future since the economic and social challenges are immense. The optimism is absent while challenges of discrimination, prejudice are fading. Hence, the article cleverly covers the

When historians observe the 1950’s (50’s) and 1960’s (60’s), they tend to generalize both decades. The 1950’s is seen as a era of conformity and political consensus. The 1950’s are normally viewed as a time of peace and prosperity because many Americans were able to save money during World War II. Mainly white Americans will move to less crowded areas and make their living off of white collared jobs. During the 50’s many Americans will view Communism as an evil, economic power and wish to spread Capitalism instead. The 60’s, however, is viewed as a decade of nonconformity and political divisiveness. Many young men would refuse to fight in the Vietnam war, and women would begin to break the tradition of the “stay at home wife,” and begin to join the workforce. However, both decades show conformity and nonconformity.

Each decade comes with a new set of values, morals, and judgements. The 1960’s was the start of the breakdown of carried-on norms. The younger generations were aggressively expressing themselves with promiscuous clothing, hippy music, and ideas of new freedoms for genders and race. “The Harper Valley P.T.A.” is a narrative song written by Tom Hall to make a statement about the growing display of hypocrisy in small towns. Hall wrote the song in 1968 after a true story he had heard as a child in his hometown. Harper Valley P.T.A. shames the hypocritical leaders for deeming others immoral for their flaws.

At first glance, “A&P” written by John Updike, looks like a funny, slangy, youthful story about a young, nineteen year old boy, Sammy, who has the normal problems that come along with his age group; abhorrence for his job, talking despondently about the older generation, and dreaming about girls he sees in the store. However, when people look at the history of the 1960’s, they find it shows a change in American social values and morals. Furthermore, the revolution of multiple groups of minorities through the civil rights movement, such as women, gays, and African Americans just to name a few who were at the forefront of issues during the 1960’s. Also, there was a revolt caused from the distrust of politicians, and from the 1950’s “family

As I continue prioritizing, the activities I participate in which include serving the community as an altar server for my Catholic Church, to my class work, my school and club sports and other extracurricular activities takes a tremendous amount of hard work. Juggling all these activities has not been easy, however; setting my priorities straight played a major role of reaching the short and long term goals I had for myself. I know that I have to perform in the class room first before I can play softball and attend a University. Since I can remember, I have worked hard to learn and keep up with my grades by receiving all A’s and having perfect attendance daily. I have not missed a day of school in my whole career, from kindergarten to today, my senior year.

Throughout the 1950’s the United States presented itself as an inflexible nation and worked hard to distinguish itself as a powerful country with a bolstering economy that could be observed within its middle class and one cherished by the nuclear family. The 1950’s is projected as a time of America’s best and has always been represented as an idyllic period that should be modeled throughout generations, but the problem arises when this “American Dream” is only available to the ones who can afford it or have the advantage of being born white. When people clearly see discrimination or a dividing line in their community history tells us that people will rebel. These rebels or outsiders in the 1950’s took to individualism instead of revolution or war and in the process created an identity that didn’t belong to the ideal American at the time or deflected any conforming to a Nation who urged it. Two characters that represent this outsider persona comes in the form of a “greaser” and ironically both are played by the same actor Henry

Other cultural changes she experienced during her lifetime were deemed as ‘counterculture’. The counterculture was a significant factor in the fall of the American consensus as new ethos of rebellion and individuality caused youth to embrace the flawed Volkswagen and for Rock-and-Roll rebels to become more mainstream (American Yawp Ch. 27, 2017). While Ms. Hampton did not participate in the change due to her new marriage and raising children, she stated that she tolerated the new cultural wave because moving forward was the only option. However, not everyone shared her tolerance as the 1970’s witnessed the struggle to once again compartmentalize society by evoking simpler times with songs like “Okie from Muskogee” (American Yawp Ch. 28, 2017).

If I could choose a time period to live in, I would choose to live in the 1960s. In my opinion, the 1960s were years of change and justice for the United States. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington took place in the year 1964. I would have liked to witness that and the impact this event had on the world. I would have wanted to live in the 1960s also because of John F. Kennedy’s presidency. Finally, I would have liked to see the voting act signed by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1964. These three events were the main reasons why I would choose to live in the 1960s.

I know I have faced many difficulties with turning in work whether that be on time or even late work and with keeping up a good academic appearance however these difficulties have pushed me to put the best effort into future tasks, going above and beyond, so I can excel better than I have ever

Beginning in 1946, Americanism became synonymous with productivity with consumption with prosperity. Economically, the 1950s American enjoyed the utmost freedom to “eat, wear, enjoy, read, repair, paint, drink, see, ride, taste and rest in” (Johnson 457). The population exploded, suburbia erupted, and materialism emerged (Ehrenhalt 28). Ironically, the success of corporatism and community clouded the underlying restraint and forced incorporation of the individual. While enjoying the opportunity to marry and start a family, the 1950s America of incorporation allowed only that “chart to follow” (23). Where afforded the option to live in the newly pristine suburbs, the 1950s America of incorporation granted that trend as the inescapable fad for families. And while enjoying the freedom to buy, the 1950s America of incorporation dictated exactly what and how one could make such purchases. Whereas the Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950s, it received more media attention in 1964 amidst a decade of zealous revolution. During the fifties, the individual rested, systematically supporting community and consumerism while hesitantly testing the social fabric – a social fabric which was bound to stretch.

Some of the things that made people upset and worried in the mid-fifties would make no more than an artificial eyebrow, and the kind of music that is important to a fan of rock nowadays may not be fairly be the same for a rock and roll fan in the 1950’s. In fact rock and roll artists and fans have been victorious in making a taboo art into a universal obsession. Although the generation of adolescents had a terrible status, it led to today’s society. Rock and roll had above all affected society; certainly it affected family lives as well.