Government Stigmas

Yesterday was American Studies Day, an annual event created to benefit the American Studies classes in our school. One of the speakers, Molly Metzker, talked about public housing, specifically in the north Chicago area. She stated that many public housing buildings, some dating back to the New Deal-era, are being torn down for a few reasons, some of which include to "replace" them and to fix them, but mostly to redevelop them to private companies for a profit. However, these redeveloped homes have failed to sell successfully.

I began to relate public housing usage to what I already knew about other government-funded programs, including Social Security and Medicare. I knew that many Americans, especially middle-class seniors, have not decided to take advantage of the programs because of the "stigma" that surrounds them. Not taking help from the government has long signaled financial independence, something that many Americans continue to strive for. Additionally, government aid usually is considered for the working class, so many middle-class Americans refuse to accept these programs, even if they could help make ends meet. I believe that the same goes for public housing, even if they are redeveloped by private companies. Middle-class families, and in some cases lower-class families, are reluctant to look into these new units because of the stigma that surrounds them. This is one of the reasons that public housing has failed. Many Americans still would rather rent a private home for more money than a publicly-housed one for less. Why do you think public housing has failed, even in this global recession?

Social Stations

Earlier this week in class, Mr. Bolos showed us a montage of video clips. These include the stops on the westbound Metra around Chicago suburbs. The video lasted about 20 minutes and painted a nice picture of the communities that were involved.

This video and the activities that surrounded made a great impression on me in a number of ways. Most importantly, it showed the direct correlation of number of Metra stops in a particular town to affluence. Therefore, the number of stops a town has, the higher the average income is. Initially, I thought that this trend would be reversed, since I believed that lower-income workers used the Metra train more than wealthier ones because the latter could afford to own automobiles. Despite this, it is the exact opposite; this was extremely eye-opening to me. Another point that the video made is in the aesthetics and landscaping of the communities that the train stopped at. A good indicator of wealth in a community is if it is well-manicured, green spaces, nice infrastructure (fountains, roads), and new construction. All of these are factors in seeing the relative wealth in a community.

Standardized Testing

For the past two weeks, I have taken a multitude of standardized tests. These include the ACT, the Prarie State Exam, and the AP United States History test. The goals of these exams are to test proficiency in a certain subject. For example, the ACT and the PSAE both use a variety of subjects including reading and science, while the AP U.S. History test is limited exclusively to American history. These tests have become a vital role in the college admissions process because they claim to represent an objective score for colleges and universities to evaluate.

While many people believe that these tests are invaluable and not effective, I beg to differ. With so many different high school curricula across the country, it is almost impossible to compare grades from one to another; it is basically apples to oranges. Two students could be enrolled in the same course on paper, but in reality, one could be much more difficult than the other. In addition, a honors course at one school could equate to a college preperatory course at another. The truth is that these grades are subjective. While standardized tests are by no means perfect, in my opinion, they do a decent job of testing proficiency. Without these scores acting as a common requirement for all students, college admissions would be much more subjective than they already are now.

American Emotions

With the recent killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy Seals, there have been very mixed emotions towards the death of the terrorist leader. Right after the annoucement, hundreds of Washington D.C.-area students flooded the area in front of the White House in jubiliation of his death. On the other hand, many people have reacted at a near opposite; many have condemned the U.S. government for authorizing the mission.

Personally, I find myself in middle ground on my emotion towards it. Initally, like many other Americans, I felt relieved that this was successfully completed and a bit of excitement. However, as I really got to grasp the magnitude of this event, I began to take a more moderate position. I feel confident that our country's military was able to do their job. I feel a greater sense of trust with the people on Capital Hill now more than before the incident. This moment has reassured that whatever goal America sets its mind to, it will accomplished the feat. This goes back to the creation of the atomic bomb, the first moon landing, and all other things in between. However, I do not support critics of the mission. Many people have still yet to grasp the enormity of his planning to kill thousands of innocent Americans, not just on 9/11 but in other terrorist attacks against our contry. No matter how you look at in, bin Laden deserved to be killed and I believe that no opinion could sway me on this; he was a terrible man. Despite this, I do not believe that the killing of a human being should be celebrated at any time. It should be a time of reflection; something I continue to try to do.

True Loyalty?

"It's just who I am. I'm a redneck. It's a way of life."

This past week, a local Oregon school bus driver was fired by his school district for flying the Confederate Flag out of his own truck. He was dismissed after he refused an order from school officials to remove the flag, which is emblazoned with the word "Redneck". The school said that the flag violated a policy prohibiting symbols that "could be offensive to minorities". While multiple civil rights groups have applauded the decision, others have called for the removal of the school officials. 

Personally, I have to disagree with the decision made by the school board. First off, I do not think that his intentions are meant to be harmful to African-Americans. While slavery and black oppression will forever be associated with the Confederate Flag, it was absolutely not intended. As society and the southern identity has progressed, the meaning of the Confederate Flag shows southern loyalty. This is very similar with the Texas and the Colorado flags. The citizens of these states are attached to their heritage from this place, just like Southerns. Secondly, the school bus driver is flying the flag on his own private property and not on the school's property. Lastly, the word "redneck" across the flag again proves the point that the flag is simply the driver's way of showing pride in his upbringing. There is nothing wrong with that.

Scholarships for Athletes

This week, longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader is calling for the elimination of college athletic scholarships, saying the move is necessary to "de-professionalize" college athletes. Nader says that this proposed move would be replaced with need-based financial aid for students and would restore academic integrity to collegiate sports.

While this appears to be a legitimate concept on paper, in reality, this idea would never actually work when it is implemented. First off, the plan would never be implemented because the colleges that would be affected would never agree to it. The biggest source of revenue for universities like Ohio State and Florida is in the athletic department, specifically football and men's basketball. The college culture that surrounds these "big money" sports has already been developed and is used by all of the power conferences. The way to get the most money from these sports is to assemble the best team possible, and the way to do this is to recruit the most talented kids to your program. A recruiting staple that all Division I colleges use is a full athletic scholarship to attract these student-athletes. Especially in the power sports, five-star recruits demand athletic scholarships and, for the most part, colleges will give one to them. With this already a vital part of collegiate sports, in is unfeasible to simply erase it from college culture.

I do agree, however, that academics in collegiate sports need to be much more important. After all, they don't call them student-athletes for nothing.

Junior Theme Issues

As I started Junior Theme last week, I already knew exactly what topic I wanted to discuss in my paper. Since I am a high school male athlete, I am very interested in Title IX and its side-effects on collegiate sports, specifically on men's sports. In addition, because of the fanfare that surrounds the essay, I had heard that the junior theme was a persuasive research paper, and this really cemented the topic that I wanted to do. But, as I should have known, this American Studies class is much different than other classes.


As I soon figured out, going into the junior theme with this mindset is completely wrong. Because I already had an opinion on my topic, I could not research Title IX with an open mind. Instead, I had a very narrow viewpoint that did not grasp the other side of the arguments. When I decided to change topics to something that I had not learned as much about, capital punishment, it was much easier to think of the junior theme as an inquiry and not something that it shouldn't be.