Page 8 January 2014
By Lauren Baker CO-NEWS EDITOR Nothing’s more American than baseball, apple pie and the promise that a strong work ethic and motivation will be one’s ticket to the next rung on the ladder. It’s the American Dream; at the very core is the belief that no matter his or her background, anyone can make it in the U.S. if he or she works hard enough. For this generation, the American Dream is less forgiving, because social
The Prowler Climbing the social ladder mobility has become increasingly more difficult. The way I see it is that the major differences between the United States and the countries with similar class systems include the following: the way funds are spent in order to help the needy, the effect parents’ education has on their children, and the higher price tag that comes with a college degree. These disparities are serious and need to be addressed. Parents clearly have an influence on their children’s success. According to a few studies conducted by various highly regarded research institutions, social mobility in the United States has been steadily declining for decades. One generation measures of social mobility have
shown that the United States does about half as well as Nordic countries, and is on par with Europe’s least mobile nations, Italy and Britain. Higher education costs and a thinner safety net for children struggling with hardships may be major contributing factors to the disparity. When it comes to higher education, high tuition in the United States makes it difficult for children from poor families to go to college, and those who do are more likely to drop out. Roughly 15 percent of Americans lived at or below the poverty line in 2012. Maybe the United States just needs to take a few pointers from its European counterparts. According to
the Washington Post, it has been documented for over a decade that Northern European countries are more successful at moving poor people up the social ladder than the U.S., although some dismiss the findings due to the difference of social structure in the U.S. compared to a place such as Denmark, which is mostly ethnically homogeneous, while the U.S. has many more broken and dysfunctional families than Canada and Europe do. Disadvantaged students in the U.S. suffer when they are denied outside help. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development draws attention to the fact that the United States is one of only three affluent na-
It’s time for a real change
By Chandler Copenheaver Co-arts editor
A few decades from now, 2013 will be a year that high school students write about for their history class essays. Our nieces and nephews in elementary school are going to be calling us to recount stories about the mass government surveillances through the NSA, exploits of one of the most widely hated congresses in U.S. history and the unmanned drone strikes that caused hundreds of civilian deaths in other countries. But what will come in the following years? How will
Opinions
the American people react to the year where it all went downhill, where some of the worst scandals our government has ever pulled came out in the open for all to see? Personally, I see things only going up. American people have finally reached their limit of being lied to and manipulated. Probably the biggest issue last year was the NSA scandal. Many predicted that the powers originally granted in the Patriot Act of 2001 to aid the government in fighting terrorism could be easily abused. Through the roughly 200,000 documents released by former NSA contractor and CIA employee Edward Snowden, the world got to see just how many constitutional rights the government had violated. The NSA
spied on the emails, phone calls and internet activity of both American citizens and citizens of foreign countries. The government didn’t really help its image through the fumblings of Congress either. A poll conducted by Gallup in November 2013 revealed that Congress held only a nine percent approval rating. This was mostly due to the government shutdown, inability to come to a consensus on the Affordable Care Act or the lack of concern on issues facing the everyday person. The government’s actions affected further than just our own borders however. President Obama’s misuse of unmanned drones has yet to die down. Just last month a drone strike attacked a wedding convoy in
Yemen, killing 14 civilians. The website Drones Pitch Interactive paints a terrifying picture of just how much destruction drones have caused since the start of their use in 2004, stating that out of the drone strikes in Pakistan, only two percent of the casualties belonged to high profile threats. In Pakistan alone around 3,200 have died of drone strikes. Of these victims, sadly, 175 have been children. But will these be the true events to change the hearts and minds of American people? To spark a true fire in the engine of change? I think so. Before this year, how many people did you know that ever made big deals about the government on the scale that people have as of recent? More and
tions that spends more on richer students than on the disadvantaged. This basically ensures that poorer neighborhoods end up with the poorly funded schools, which helps to perpetuate the self-reinforcing cycle of under-funded schools, higher crime rates and social breakdown. It’s true that the United States does spend a lot of money on education, but most of it is on college education or is directed toward the already-advantaged in various ways. What is apparent is that the countries and parents that invest heavily in their children’s care and education end up with a much stronger ladder of opportunity and access as a result.
more I see people who normally couldn’t be less interested in news and politics go out of their way to educate themselves on the recent controversial events. These scandals and abuses of power have brought a new spark to the American people to recreate their government as a true government by the people, for the people. In the next few years, we’re going to see a rise in activism with American citizens wanting to play a bigger part in their government. New congressmen will be elected, and politicians will start to be held more accountable. All in all, despite many saying the state of things will only get worse, I predict we’ll see a slow yet visible climb back to a stable and prosperous country.