Reflections on The American Dream
Since I typically teach American literature to my high school juniors, the topic of the American dream always weaves its way into our class discussions. I began the 2007-2008 school year by having the students in my resource English class read the Captain America comic strip issue where Captain America is shot. That lead to a discussion of whether or not the American dream is dead in the wake of globalization. My intent was to shake up the students and make them realize that they better put more effort into gaining knowledge. Unfortunately, the discussions didn't have the effect I had hoped for. Instead of working harder, many students seemed apathetic, as if they perceived their life situations as hopeless. Perhaps my greatest challenge with them is to make them believe in themselves first, and then believe in the American dream.
Next year if I am fortunate enough to teach American literature, I plan to put a new twist on the American dream. First, we must redefine it. I particularly enjoyed reading the essays from celebrated Americans who choose to define the dream on the Forbes website. Here is the link to the site:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/20/american-dream-oped-cx_de_dream0307_0322dream_land.html
If you took the time to check out the link above and read some of the essays there, you will have noticed that for some people the American dream involves more than the accumulation of wealth. It can also mean having great relationships with friends and family or a sense of individual power. The dream can be the preservation of personal freedoms also. At a time when the working class of America is feeling pressure from powerful international corporations and members of the super class (see David Rothkopf's book entitled Superclass) it is nice to know that it is not inevitable that we will all become indentured servants. The American people still have some power, however, just like my students, we need to believe in ourselves. That said, I enjoyed reading an article online that indicated a slight decline in oil prices may have been the result of American's drastic cut in the use of their automobiles. The article is entitled "Driving Drops as Gas Prices Hit $4" Check out the article here:
I for one have cut my driving in half. All it took was a bit of planning ahead. I make a food list in the morning and stop by the grocery store before driving past it on my way home from work. I make coffee at home instead of driving to the local Wawa in the morning and evening, despite the fact that it is less than a mile from my home. Before heading out to the post office I stop and think about whether or not there is something else I will need to pick up near there. Finally, if I discover in the evening that I "need" something, instead of rushing out to the store, I just put off the purchase until my travels bring me to the store that sells it. I really didn't think these slight changes in my driving habits would make a difference, but they made a big difference. I'm saving as much as $160.00 a month, and I didn't have to sell my comfy, low mileage SUV for a big loss in order to spend thousands on a fuel efficient, rough-riding foreign import. Eventually, when my American made SUV hits the six-digit mileage marker, I'll trade it in, but hopefully by then our saavy American automakers will be producing hybrids that get fifty or sixty miles to the gallon... or run on corn! :)