The American Prospect By Kathleen Gerson

Well-known essayist and writer, James W. Loewen, in his essay, The Land of Opportunity, argues that the common American people aren’t given equal opportunity in this day and age. Loewen effectively convinces his readers, high school teachers and history buffs that, social class and inequality is an important thing for students to learn and understand. Through convincing logical arguments he proves that American history books are giving students across the nation false information. According to Loewen, “social class is probably the single most important variable in society.” (Loewen para. 5) He goes on saying, “From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all social characteristics of people that we can measure.” (Loewen para. 6) In addition, he establishes credibility with his audience by not accusing students or even instructors for this lack of knowledge, but clearly blames the textbooks used in high schools today. Lowen’s logical approach in exposing the lies that we are taught and taught to think leave the reader with the abitlity to empathize with him, ultimately getting the message across far more effectively.

In 1872, John Gast created a masterpiece that not only exemplified what American society was like, but global advancement as well. This artwork, rightfully titled “American Progress” is a clear display of the journey Americans were taking in attempt to civilize the world to their standards, what would become known as the White Man’s burden. While we continue to call it a burden, it seemed anything but to those on the “civilized” side of it. “American Progress” shows the joy of bringing enlightenment to those believed to be in need of help. Despite being labeled as a strenuous responsibility, fulfilling the White Man’s burden was something powerful countries enjoyed and by accomplishing this onus they themselves created, they are seen as the more powerful and therefor developed members of society.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.

In the poem “America,” by Tony Hoagland, the idea of Americans being consumed with their money is shown using symbolism and metaphors. The speaker in this poem is a teacher whose name is never mentioned. One thing revealed in the poem is that the speaker has a father who is presumably very wealthy and successful. One of the teacher’s students compares America to a maximum security prison. A recurring theme throughout “America” is Hoagland showing examples of America’s greedy society using a teacher, student, and a father’s experiences. Using metaphors of money and symbols of rivers filled with merchandise, Tony Hoagland captures how the teacher begins to think after he hears his student compare America to a maximum security prison.

The issues I focused on in my analysis of Cal students are marriage and parenthood. Specifically, I chose to compare how opinions on these issues differed by gender. Kathleen Gerson discusses the new generation’s expectations from marriage and families to a great degree in her book The Unfinished Revolution. As Gerson states, “Most of my interviewees hope to create lasting, egalitarian partnerships, but they are also doubtful about their chances of reaching this goal.” (10) This is a characteristic that also stood out in my analysis: the majority of the students interviewed hope to create an egalitarian relationship in which there is no strict enforcement of traditional gender roles. Or as Gerson says, “…the vast majority want a permanent bond, but they do not wish for that bond to be defined by rigid gender distinctions.” (104) I only encountered one exception to this trend: a female student who expressed the desire to become a full time stay-at-home mom after having children, thereby putting all financial responsibility on her spouse. One thing that was different in my findings was that with the exception of one or two, these Cal students do not think it will be difficult to find a suitable partner. This is likely because most students

“The Indian presence precipitated the formation of an American identity” (Axtell 992). Ostracized by numerous citizens of the United States today, this quote epitomizes Axtell’s beliefs of the Indians contributing to our society. Unfortunately, Native Americans’ roles in history are often categorized as insignificant or trivial, when in actuality the Indians contributed greatly to Colonial America, in ways the ordinary person would have never deliberated. James Axtell discusses these ways, as well as what Colonial America may have looked like without the Indians’ presence. Throughout his article, his thesis stands clear by his persistence of alteration the Native Americans had on our nation. James Axtell’s bias delightfully enhances his thesis, he provides a copious amount of evidence establishing how Native Americans contributed critically to the Colonial culture, and he considers America as exceptional – largely due to the Native Americans.

In Dr. Horney’s “The Distrust Between the Sexes,” she explains the “several psychological reasons” for the unease in a relationship. Dr. Horney explains the discomfort in a couple’s bond with three causes. Horney argues there are “individual factors” that causes “poor relationships between men and women” that might “be pertinent ones” (340). The reality of what she argues however is in her “commonplace” theories. These theories help give the reader better comprehension of the problems or distrusts in a relationship. To better understand Dr. Horney’s theory as to the causes of the “Distrust Between the Sexes,”

The book, Revolutionary Mothers, Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence, by Carol Berkin, was published in 2005. This book is a history book that focuses on women during the American Revolution years. Women played an active and vital role in the war, even though we are often not aware of this because most history books completely leave out the great contributions of women during the revolution.

The New Western Historians such as Patricia Nelson, William Cronon, Donald Worster, Walter Webb and Walter Nugent have different views of the West. They believe the West is not a process and not a place that civilization took a place. The West is the place that like other regions such as the South, the Midwest we can set no boundaries. As Patricia Nelson mentioned, “recognized the history of the West is a study of a place undergoing conquest and never fully escaping its consequences” (Patricia Nelson, p. 8). The West as a place instead of process explains the migratory. Immigration could never have been explained by calling the West as a process or the frontier. Patricia Limerick sees the West as another chapter in Europe’s enlargement

The American Dream is steadily changing as time goes on and some say this is a bad thing. As different generations come about the dream changes with the people. As stated by Dan Kadlec in the article “Millennials Put Their Surprising Stamp on the American Dream” the American dream is now seen as having control over your daily life. Today 's generation has seen some of the main aspects of the original American Dream fail greatly so they have made up a new dream. With the things Millennials have seen change and go wrong they only believe that they can achieve a day to day lifestyle, but should this really be the case? In another article named “The Hourglass Society” it’s stated by Stewart Lansley that the middle class is going backwards. The idea of the ‘hourglass’ is that there are large amounts of people on the top and the bottom, but not many at all in the middle representing the middle class. This article also states that the American Dream is now only a myth and this generation only has a “fear of failing”. Many say the American Dream is dead but is the dream really dead or are people too afraid of failure? Millennials of today have seen so many bad things happen to their parents that they just settle and this shouldn’t be the case. The American Dream is only going to die if we let it happen.

The first thing that comes to my mind when reading an article like this is, "Has this writer maybe encountered frustrating situations like this before?", or "Is the writer possibly trying to express personal emotions in the topic discussed?" Whatever the case may be, the point she is trying to make is clear to me. It is the events and relationships that happen early on in life that may interfere and have effect on the intimate relationships that occur later on in life. This holds some truth in my opinion, and must be examined carefully to make sure and read between all the lines. Let us not neglect important detail and variables.

As child, Cami always saw how independent her mother was. She never saw any man besides her uncles come around. It wasn’t until she got to middle school that she realized it was strange not having a father. When she would see other children with both their parents and wonder why her mom was by herself. When she would question her mom she would always tell her, “you have to put yourself first and become who you want before ever investing in a relationship” to which Cami would respond: “but don’t you want a prince like everyone else mom?” Eventually, her mother’s words became the root of how Cami still goes about relationships. Although Cami tries to stay away from labels and commitment so she can be an independent woman, she still want the ideals behind an institutional and companionate relationship.

Watch the classical film Grease and one can understand how relationships function in Western Society. The film tells a story of a boy (Danny) and a girl (Sandy) who falls in love. Through a series of misunderstandings they break up, but still somehow care for each other. Through ballads such as Summer Night’s that are still popular today, the film shows how differently males and females view relationships. Films like Grease are like a mirror, reflecting societal values and how it socializes its members. It makes it clear that in relationships, males are socialized to view relationships as mostly a physical, sexual endeavor, while females view it as a perpetual bond –a deeper connection between the two individuals within a relationship.

Albeit early discoveries proposed that detachment from a guardian at an early age had more negative impacts for youngsters than for more seasoned youth, this component has ended up being more unpredictable than was at first accepted. In a ten-year follow-up of pre-school youngsters from separated families, Wallerstein discovered the beginning reaction to separate to be more regrettable for more youthful kids, yet in later years they seemed preferable balanced over their more established partners (Wallerstein, 1984, p. 12). She reasoned that the individuals who are exceptionally youthful at conjugal separation may be less troubled in the years to come than the individuals who are more seasoned. Additionally, Amato found that the dominant part of kids who were extremely youthful at the season of separation reported that they were not firmly influenced by the break-up taking after separation, Kaye found that both young men and young ladies indicated poorer execution on accomplishment tests contrasted with kids from in place families.(Kaye & Amato, 1989, p. 5) Be that as it may, by the fifth year taking after separation, young men's evaluations and accomplishment tests were unfavourably influenced, while young ladies' were most certainly not. Likewise, Hetherington et al. found that, promptly taking after the separation, young men and young ladies encountered some interruption in play circumstances, be that as it may, the impacts seemed, by all accounts, to be more supported in young men. (Hetherington et al. 1979, p.16) Wallerstein, in a ten-year follow-up of kids who were pre-schoolers at the season of separation found that despite the fact that there were no starting sex contrasts in the impacts of separation. Eighteen months taking after the separation, huge numbers of the young ladies seemed recuperated, yet young men were essentially more disturbed at