Race
Orfield (2009) points out, in the beginning of his article, that after fifty-five years from the historical Brown decision, segregation in school remains a big problem for the African-American and Latino populations, quite often to a higher degree than before. As he continues, this trend is particularly worrisome in suburban locations and in ghetto locations in the cities as well.
This paper, however, argues that this is more a consequence of economic and social factors rather than a racial issue, as in the past. The documentary Detropia provides useful arguments towards this thesis. The first thing to consider is that communities tend to be static rather than dynamic. This is a statement that is true not only for Africa-American and Latino communities, but also for Chinese or even European communities. It is much simpler for people to remain within the same community, benefiting from its protection (from an economic and social...
American Exceptionalism When the American electorate re-elected George W. Bush as their President in November 2004, the rest of the world shook its head in collective amazement. They could not understand how someone the world 'loved to hate' and who, in their opinion, had committed 'monumental blunders' in his four years in office, could be chosen by so many Americans as their leader. They need not have been surprised having been
When we speak of Puritanical values, however, some events in America's history seriously clash with its "pure values" or its belief that it's a world liberator. The first one was slavery. No where in the world have we witnessed just harsh case of slavery as in the United States. To this day, African-Americans have been unable to liberate themselves completely from the ugly history of slavery that had seriously marred
" This view appears to be excessively negative, not least because of its lack of balance. It fails to acknowledge balance and uses all arguments to the contrary to perpetuate itself. Neither the view of American exceptionalism being wholly good or wholly bad is therefore entirely realistic. Much more realistic is perhaps Koh's view, although it still tends towards the somewhat negative side. I do agree with this author in terms
American Exceptionalism While some believe that America is truly exceptional, others believe that it is just another country in history that has many of the same problems that other countries have. Furthermore, some people even go further towards the opposite end of the spectrum, against the idea of the U.S. being exceptional in any way, and believe that its actions and its presence are largely counterproductive among world affairs. For example,
The Myth of American Exceptionalism The myth of American exceptionalism is a familiar one to Americans and non-Americans alike. It suggest that America, as the home of the free and the brave, is unique in its allowance of freedom and social mobility, in contrast to Europe, Asia, and other, much older civilizations. Yet as noted by Stephen M. Walt in his essay, “The Myth of American Exceptionalism,” perhaps one of the
To wit, "half of Americans deem religion very important in their lives; fewer than a quarter in Spain (22%) feel this way, and in Germany (21%), Britain (17%) and France (13%), even fewer say religion is "very important" to their lives (PEW). Fifty-three percent of Americans are more apt to agree that it is vital to believe in God prior to having good morals and values while just 33% of
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