Essay 2 draft

The American Dream
Are you more likely to prosper, have a better quality of life, the power to change the world or be a major contributor to the greatest nation on earth with a college degree? Not if you’re a black man. A college degree doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Having a college degree should be all you need when you are looking for a job it shouldn’t matter what skin color you are. “In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap” Michael Luo states, “That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges.” (1) These men have gone to good schools and have been raised believing they can accomplish anything and just by their name they are not even getting the interview. Luo shows figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in this same article: “The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates – 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent.” (1) We are in need of closing the racial gap between all Americans it is time that we look past the color of ones skin or the gender and live the American dream as one. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Whatever that happiness is, a college degree should be enough to gain employment in whatever you would like and the color of your skin should not hold you back. Race is an issue that I believe cannot be ignored any longer there is a need to find good jobs for every American.

Working Class Blog #3

I really don’t see a connection between Mike Lefevre in Who Built the Pyramids and the young people in Born Rich. Mike talks about his experiences as a steelworker as dying bread, how he would like to take pride in his work that he’d like to show his kid “you see that, I built it”. He works hard and fantasizes about living it up in Miami like a college kid, with a sports car! Marijuana! Wild sexy broads, he’d love that, but then he goes on to realize the reality of his life, to work hard so that his son can go to college. Mike also says he’s like an old mule as he shows his black and blues from his hard work its always about his kid going to college so that his son can be better then him. That what working class is all about to Mike working hard so that you can provide a better life for your kids. The young people in Born Rich have no idea what working class means they have been raised in the “lap of luxury” they are isolated and socialize in their own little world. They are privileged most don’t know what to do with themselves and probably wouldn’t last a day in the life of Mike Lefevre . They are actually living his fantasy. Mike talks about the possibility of working a twenty hour week where I don’t believe some of the rich kids could work twenty hours it would be too much for them. And even when some of the rich kids work like Carlo who earns 50,000 a year he still receives a six figure salary in addition to working. They are completely different. The two texts clearly show a difference in the working class and the social world and the two rarely meet.