English III
Final Exam Prompt
2014
During the period from the early 1900’s to the present, the American Dream has undergone
many transformations. From the early immigrants, through the Harlem Renaissance, and during
the Modernistic Period, authors have recounted the trials and tribulations of those pursuing the
American Dream.
Based on the sources you have been provided, is the American Dream worth pursuing?
You have been given 4 sources. You must cite from at least 2-3 sources using proper MLA
style.
You are NOT allowed to use any quotations outside of the four sources you have been given.
As you write, remember your essay will be scored based on how well you:
*develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly
communicates your thesis to the audience
*support your thesis with meaningful examples and references from the texts and/or your
personal experiences
*organize your essay in a clear and logical manner, including an
introduction, body, and conclusion
*use well-constructed sentences and language that are appropriate for your audience.
*use an appropriate, consistent point of view
*edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English
Meacham, Jon. “Keeping the Dream Alive.” The American Dream: A Biography. Time, 21 June 2012. Web. 19
March 2013.
The following is an excerpt of an article written for Time magazine.
The perennial conviction that those who work hard and play by the rules will be rewarded with a more
comfortable present and a stronger future for their children faces assault from just about every direction. That
great enemy of democratic capitalism, economic inequality, is real and growing. The unemployment rate is
dispiritingly high. The nation's long-term fiscal health is at risk, and the American political system, the engine
of what Thomas Jefferson called "the world's best hope," shows no sign of reaching solutions commensurate
with the problems of the day.
Economic fairness is not a new concern. "There is no reason why wealth, which is a social product,
should not be more equitably controlled and distributed in the interests of society," wrote Adams in The Epic of
America.
In fact there is a reason: by its very nature capitalism produces winners — and losers. Some dreams
come true; some don't. Equality of outcome, though, is not the same thing as equality of opportunity, and
equality of opportunity is at the heart of the American vision. "And that dream has been realized more fully in
actual life here than anywhere else," Adams wrote, "though very imperfectly even among ourselves."
In 2003, Jim Cullen, a historian who teaches at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City,
published an illuminating book titled The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation.
Asked how he assesses the state of his old subject today, Cullen says, "With a lot of folks, I'm afraid I'm not as
optimistic as I was. An idea like this does not die overnight, but I'm worried."
Ronald Reagan was eloquent about American possibilities; so is Bill Clinton. Such different men, yet
they were both products of a middle-class America that enabled the son of an alcoholic shoe salesman (Reagan)
and the stepson of an alcoholic car salesman (Clinton) each to rise to the presidency.
We are stronger the wider we open our arms. Our dreams are more powerful when they are shared by
others in our time. And we are the only ones who can create a climate for the American Dream to survive
another generation, then another and another. "If the American dream is to come true and to abide with us,"
James Truslow Adams, a popular historian, wrote in 1931, "it will, at bottom, depend on the people
themselves." True then, and true now.
Stiglitz, Joseph E. “The American Dream Can Be Restored, but It Will Take Some Work.” Slate. 10 June 2012.
Web. 19 March 2013.
The following is an excerpt of an article written for Slate magazine.
America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity, and others view it in much the same light. But,
while we can all think of examples of Americans who rose to the top on their own, what really matters are the
statistics: To what extent do an individual’s life chances depend on the income and education of his or her
parents?
Nowadays, these numbers show that the American dream is a myth. There is less equality of opportunity
in the United States today than there is in Europe—or, indeed, in any advanced industrial country for which
there are data.
This is one of the reasons that America has the highest level of inequality of any of the advanced
countries—and its gap with the rest has been widening. In the “recovery” of 2009-2010, the top 1 percent of US
income earners captured 93 percent of the income growth. Other inequality indicators—like wealth, health, and
life expectancy—are as bad or even worse. The clear trend is one of concentration of income and wealth at the
top, the hollowing out of the middle, and increasing poverty at the bottom.
Defenders of America’s inequality argue that the poor and those in the middle shouldn’t complain.
While they may be getting a smaller share of the pie than they did in the past, the pie is growing so much,
thanks to the contributions of the rich and superrich, that the size of their slice is actually larger. The evidence,
again, flatly contradicts this. Indeed, America grew far faster in the decades after World War II, when it was
growing together, than it has since 1980, when it began growing apart.
America is paying a high price for continuing in the opposite direction. Inequality leads to lower growth
and less efficiency. Lack of opportunity means that its most valuable asset—its people — is not being fully
used. Many at the bottom, or even in the middle, are not living up to their potential, because the rich, needing
few public services and worried that a strong government might redistribute income, use their political influence
to cut taxes and curtail government spending. This leads to underinvestment in infrastructure, education, and
technology, impeding the engines of growth.
But, most importantly, America’s inequality is undermining its values and identity. With inequality
reaching such extremes, it is not surprising that its effects are manifest in every public decision, from the
conduct of monetary policy to budgetary allocations. America has become a country not “with justice for all,”
but rather with favoritism for the rich and justice for those who can afford it.
America can no longer regard itself as the land of opportunity that it once was. But it does not have to be
this way: It is not too late for the American dream to be restored.
De Groote, Michael. “Moving On Up: Can the American Dream Still Become a Reality Today?” Deseret News.
21 July 2012. Web. 19 March 2013.
The following is an excerpt of an article written for the Deseret News newspaper.
It's the middle of the night, and the front door of the small split-level home in Magna, Utah, is left open.
Rob McDaniel, a skinny fifth-grader, sleeps on the couch next to his younger brother Paul. They lay head to
foot like they always do. The unlucky child sleeps on the edge of the couch but often ends up on the floor with a
thud. The door is open so their mutt, Waggles, can come and go. The windows are open because there is no airconditioning. Their slightly-older sister sleeps in another room.
No adults will come to help them if they call out. The father left years ago. Their mom studies during the
day to become a teacher and works the graveyard shift as a nurse. If their dreams are interrupted by a noise that
sounds to them like a crook, all they can do is scramble off the couch and burrow under piles of clothes in the
house. They hold their breath — listening and waiting for the dawn.
Three decades after sharing a couch with his brother, he is a 44-year-old success story and embodies the
promises America offered just a generation ago, and perhaps still offers.
It's Sunday, and he is resting in a comfortable easy chair with his feet up. His white dress shirt tail is
pulled out after a long day at church. Against one wall of the living room is an oak Weber upright piano, a
symbol of the suburban stability he has achieved, a reminder of how far up the economic ladder he has climbed.
"I knew we had less than other people," McDaniel says. "I remember worrying if somebody gave me
money for a birthday present, because I felt I should ask my mother if we needed to spend it on milk."
McDaniel walks into another room and comes back with an iPad in a leather case. After a few taps and
swipes, his personal history appears on the screen. Up and down he scrolls through the story of his life looking
for photographs of when he was a child. A minute later he opens a large scrapbook, which has only a few small
family portraits of a blond-haired wisp of a kid with his sister and brother. In one photograph his mother looks
tired but has determination in her eyes.
"I think it would be hard for someone like my mom to do today what she did years before," he says.
"She started from complete scratch."
Later in the day, McDaniel drives in his 2011 Toyota Corolla to his old home. It is only 2.2 miles from
where he now lives, but in some ways, it's like driving down the economic ladder. As he looks at the small
house he grew up in, he thinks about how different it seems. It is just a house to him.
"I do think things have changed, and it is harder now to move up," he says, "but it is still possible."
The American Dream has always been an amorphous idea, meaning different things to different people,
says Mark Edwards, the executive director of Opportunity Nation, a nonpartisan campaign to increase economic
mobility. "In the broader sense, it is the idea that no matter who you are, no matter what your background is,
that if you work hard you should be able to improve your lot in life and take care of you and your family."
At the heart of the American Dream is equal opportunity for children — wherever they are born and in
whatever condition — to rise above their situation. The factors affecting that opportunity are varied and
complex. Opportunity Nation identified three major categories of these factors: economics, education and
community.
Back in West Valley City, McDaniel says he is optimistic that people still have opportunity. "But it
takes a lot of work and motivation," he says. "I'm not sure everyone will do it. It isn't just opportunity, it is
people taking advantage of opportunity."
McDaniel travels back up the economic ladder to his modest home in a nice West Valley City
neighborhood. The drive is short, but the direction is what makes the difference. In some ways he is still the
same person for whom his mother sacrificed so much. Like her, he believes in education and the possibilities
that come from hard work.
Pelosi, Alexandra. "Citizen U.S.A.: A 50 State Road Trip: Home." HBO. Web. 21 July 2011.
The following are the comments from the director of a documentary on American citizenship.
The one thing that every new citizen agrees on is that those who were born in the USA don't realize how
good we have it! Our new fellow-countrymen appreciate the freedoms here way more than people who have
been here for generations -- and can help us see all that we take for granted -- indoor plumbing, electricity,
uncensored internet access, religious tolerance, democracy, free refills, home ownership, funding for the arts,
traffic laws, the option to go into debt, the freedom to have premarital sex, the right to bear arms, select your
spouse, wear nail polish, read books, smoke, exercise as much as we like, and have as many children as we
want! We can learn a lot from those who became American by choice.
Whether they came here through on-line dating, adoption, political asylum, student and work visas, or
by swimming the Rio Grande River (and overstayed long enough to be granted amnesty) they all came here to
live the American Dream. Even though they have made themselves at home in their new country, our newest
citizens still look at America with an outsider's perspective; they hold up a mirror to show us how we look as a
nation.
By looking at America through the eyes of our newest citizens, we can see how much we take for
granted.
Keefe, Mike. "American Pipe Dream." Cartoon. InToon.com. InToon, 13 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
Bourke-White, Margaret. "Kentucky Flood." Photograph. Life.com. Life, Feb. 1937. Web. 9 April. 2014.
Works Cited
Bourke-White, Margaret. "Kentucky Flood." Photograph. Life.com. Life, Feb. 1937. Web. 9 April. 2014.
De Groote, Michael. “Moving On Up: Can the American Dream Still Become a Reality Today?” Deseret News.
21 July 2012. Web. 19 March 2013.
Keefe, Mike. "American Pipe Dream." Cartoon. InToon.com. InToon, 13 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
Meacham, Jon. “Keeping the Dream Alive.” The American Dream: A Biography. Time, 21 June 2012. Web. 19
March 2013.
Pelosi, Alexandra. "Citizen U.S.A.: A 50 State Road Trip: Home." HBO. Web. 21 July 2011.
Stiglitz, Joseph E. “The American Dream Can Be Restored, but It Will Take Some Work.” Slate. 10 June 2012.
Web. 19 March 2013.