The American Dream

Last week, in a poll during class, a question was posed about how hard it is to move up the in the ranks of class in America on a scale of 1-10 (1 being easy to move up in class, 10 being almost impossible to move up). For me, it was hard to answer this question because I have always pictured America as the land of opportunity. When I was younger, I felt anyone could get anywhere based on their intelligence, and work ethic. Now, I am finding reasons I to believe this theory is not true.

First, the wealthier one is growing up, the better colleges they are likely to gain entrance to.  Mr. Bolos told us what is already common knowledge, that almost all New Trier students (about 98%) will be going to college. In other not so affluent areas the college attendance rate will be much lower. A reason for this is that many people simply cannot afford college. From the class rankings we saw in class last week, we know that people who graduate from college are considered to be in the top-tier of class. Another reason so many New Trier students go on to college is because of their ACT score. New Trier students typically do very well on their ACT, but this is hardly a coincidence. When I had a short chat with my ACT tutor, he told me that the best indicator of ACT score is family income. This seems particularly unfair, since this score is supposed to measure one's intelligence and future success in college. People who can afford tutors will do better on the ACT by around 4 points, clearly not a fair way to compare students' intelligence.

Also, I have found that one must "get a dollar to catch a dollar". With money to invest, there is more opportunity for entrepreneurship and potential for successful careers. In a documentary called "To Catch a Dollar",  I learned about the practice of microfinancing  (a system where small amounts of money are lent to poor individuals to use in some form of entrepreneurship, and is paid back in small increments over a period of time) developed by Muhammed Yunus. This process helps lower class people produce more money. Still, microfinancing in America is limited at best, and is not the complete solution to give the poor equal opportunity as the rich.

I believe moving up in class is difficult in America, although still easier than many other countries because of things like affirmative action. I feel that "The American Dream" does not exist as it once did. There clearly is much opportunity in America, but depending on class opportunity it can be limited. I wonder how other people felt above this poll in class, and what they gave as their answers.

Too Much

Earlier last week I saw a program I occasionally watch called Top Chef. In the after the season reunion special, there was an awkward and uncomfortable debate between a contestant on the show, Elia Aboumrad, and a judge on the show, professional chef Tom Colicchio. The debate was over Tom Colicchio's commercial endorsement of Diet Coke, and whether or not that was something a chef of his caliber should endorse. The contestant had said to the press that the chef was "selling out". There was also an implication by Ms. Aboumrad and others that Chef Colicchio should not be selling corn-fed beef in his restaurants, but should support the ethical treatment of cattle by selling grass-fed beef only (the clip is the top video on this link). I also saw an ad last week for an episode of Oprah, and I Tivo'd the show which included many food experts, including Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan wrote the book that I am reading for my Junior Theme, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and is one of the leading experts in the world on the politics of food production. During the week, I also interviewed a corn and soybean expert who told me that corn prices were currently at one of the highest levels ever, if not the highest. The reason I originally chose "food" for my Junior Theme are the current controversies that make the topic all the more interesting to learn about. Every day I learn something new, such as the reasons meat is so cheap, where commodity corn comes from, or how beneficial organic food really is.  With all sorts of interesting current news about food in the media, I am having a hard time knowing what I will and will not include in my Junior Theme.  I wonder, is anyone else having a hard time knowing what not to include in their paper?

Just Right

I have found my Junior Theme research to be difficult. There is a plethora of information about different facets of my general topic, food in America, but it has still been challenging to find the "just right" article. I have found many articles related to my topic, but not as many as I would like that are over a page in length, and under 25 pages in length. Also, many articles I have found are either too simplistic, filled with basic facts that appear everywhere, or too technical, with complex graphs and analysis that includes many words I do not know. Although I have been able to understand more of the more complex articles than I first thought I could, when I do understand them they are often only indirectly related to the specific area of the topic I intend to pursue. It is not impossible to do the research by any means, but some periods I can only find one article that really is good for my topic. At times it can be discouraging to have few articles than I would want, and to have articles that seem perfect in the first two paragraphs but then stray off into another topic for the rest of the article.

Even though I was at first discouraged I now find it extremely helpful to know all about the different facets of food, even though my topic is more specifically focused on the reasons the government is subsidizing the production of corn. Knowing about all the different topics can help me understand more about my own. Articles about corn could also include information on soybeans. Soybeans are not obviously helpful to my topic- without knowing anything about soybeans on the other hand, would detract from my research because there are many parallels in these two plants, such as the fact that they are some of the the largest crops in America. I also learned a lot about meat, which may not seem very relevant to corn production at first glance. In the food world many things, like meat and corn, are connected. I learned that the reason meat is so cheap is because animals are being fed corn (which is generally very cheap) to make them cheaper to produce. It did take time to sift through the long articles, and the shorter ones, but in the end reading articles that may seem too long, or off topic is ultimately beneficial.  Articles can be short or long, simplistic or complex, but there is no such thing as the article that is “just right”.

Favorite Blog

"All Black Everything"

Double Standards

Last week, according to the New Trier News, the New Trier Board of Education voted to dismiss a New Trier teacher for an inappropriate relationship, and unprofessional relationship, with a student. Incidents such as this occur around the country, and when there is a female student involved with a male teacher, the female student immediately becomes a victim in the eyes of the public. To many people, this is not necessarily how they view it when a female teacher and male student have an inappropriate relationship. On the NBC  sitcom 30 Rock this week, a character on the show was found to have had an affair with a teacher when he was 14. (You can watch the clip here four minutes in). The show mocks the relationship of a female teacher and male student and even calls a male teacher’s relationship with a female student “wrong”, but a female teacher and a male student having a relationship is “awesome”. This to me is an unfair double standard. I wonder if many others would agree.

Junior Theme #1

The week before I began to work on Junior Theme a family friend came over. While at dinner she talked about giving up corn,  wheat, and other food in an attempt to improve her health. She claims this diet works. I knew then that I wanted to focus on food and food's impact on health for my Junior Theme. After working with the librarians, I found some books, articles, and the movie Food Inc. for more information on my topic. I was surprised to see the relationship between the government and the food industry, and how corrupt this relationship is. I then posed the question, "Why does the government support the production of one kind of food over another?". In my Junior Theme I hope to further explore this relationship between the government and food industry and how it impacts the consumer. Something I find unique and fascinating about my topic is how little the average person understands what is going on in the food industry. Before I had done research all I thought was that some food is unhealthy. I have now found that there are significant issues in how the food we eat is made. People do not know much about this topic because the food industry does not want people to know about it. The food industry is even trying to create laws to prevent the publishing of photos of any livestock facility. The animals are treated poorly, the workers are treated poorly, the food products are being treated poorly, and us as the consumer are being treated poorly.

A few individual writers and reporters have shown light on the food industry. Because of their work, I have been able to find a fair amount of research for my topic. Most articles I read or find, however, are either bashing the food industry or defending the food industry. I hope to find in my research answers to why people do not know about what is going on in the food industry. People know of E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks (still not enough), but nobody really knows what they are eating. People just accept that the food they eat is unhealthy because the food that is available (especially affordable food) is unhealthy. In my paper I hope to explain the answers to these questions, as well as my main question, and get to the root of why we eat what we eat, and what exactly are we eating.

Upbringing's Effect in Politics

Earlier this week in the library I overheard a girl and boy sitting next to me talking about sexism. The girl went  on about how female politicians, or females involved in politics, are being treated completely unfairly. She brought up the fact that in politics you may hear that "Sarah Palin is good looking", or that "Michelle Obama is overweight", but people never criticize how the men look. People just accept a ratty old looking man, but a bad looking woman stands out. I found this particularly interesting because in my last blog, I brought up how very often only the people who are being unfairly treated realize sexism or racism.

In the blog before that I wrote about how Rahm Emmanuel deserved to be a mayor regardless of his privileged upbringing. After what I heard in the library I began to wonder how much someone's perspective actually depends on things like how they grew up.

Earlier today,while watching The Colbert Report, I heard something else relating to how a person's upbringing changed his view. The video can be watched here one minute into the clip. Basically Mike Huckabee claimed that Obama was born in Kenya (which is not actually true) and has different perspectives than any other president because of this.

This again got me to thinking how someone's childhood effects who they are as an adult. I was reminded of my earlier belief, and now again believe that regardless of how people grow up, they can change their opinons. Even if Obama had grown up in Kenya, would that really make him unqualified to make decisions as a president (even though a president must legally be born in America)? It is too simplistic to judge someone on how they grew up, and politicians especially should be judged on their policies and decisions, not their childhood.