A Year in Review

As the school year comes to a close, I'd like to take the time to reflect on the time I've had in my American Studies class. Way back in August when we got started, I did not enjoy this class to be completely honest. I was kind of a "stick to the script kind of guy," so the freedom of the class, without having weekly Scantron tests or unit calendars, really caught me off guard. I really lacked the ability to think for myself, best shown in my Frederick Douglass presentation where I struggled coming up with claims about the book, and really had no coherent evidence to support my already broken claims. As the year chugged on, I started to force myself to be uncomfortable, and to engage myself and to handle the immense freedom that we were given. I started to appreciate not that dates of wars, or the plot summary of Chapter 6, but why the wars happened when they did, and why did the author write that chapter the way that it was written. This "uncovering" aspect to the class I learned to enjoy. We learned to look at our country and its history in different perspectives, and not to treat a history textbook as the Holy Bible of American history. I took some time for me to realize the true openness of the course, and how any idea is appreciated as long as there is evidence to support it. Looking back, I don't know why it took me so long to realize this, I mean the course is called An American Studies for a reason.
Of the many things I learned, I thing I most found most rewarding can be represented in this clip from The Newsroom. Now, I'm not saying that I learned to rip on the United States every chance I got. I learned to look and think critically the events in our past, and our world in the present. I learned scratch the surface, to dig deeper than what I read on Wikipedia or what the headlines say on the news. This class didn't shape my opinions, but gave me the voice to express them.

Advantages

Earlier in class, we spent time talking about selective boarding schools and how they are linked to human capital and social capital. One of my good friends, let's call him Jim, left New Trier last year to attend the prestigious Brewster Academy. According to the school's website, tuition at the New England based school costs 51,400 dollars a year, more than many selective colleges in the country. This got me wondering: Do people like Jim receive special advantages from attending selective boarding schools and universities?

As Americans, we like to think that everyone has a fair chance to be successful in life, to even become the President of United States. If we look at the education of recent presidents, eleven out the past thirteen presidents attended ivy league schools or military schools (West Point and U.S. Naval Academy). Considering the acceptance rates of these schools, along with the tuition costs, most of Americans' dream of sitting in the oval office vanishes instantaneously, excluded from "secret society" that such an education enrolls someone in. You might as well add "attended ivy league" to the requirements of running for president right next to being 35 or older.