Similarly, it helps all children to have peers who take· school seriously
I heavily believe this. Peers can be great role models for kids. I feel that we as humans are naturally competitive (especially myself) and set up a secret competition in their head about who can say... get a better test score than the other. But having that drive from within the classroom can lead to even greater success
The gap between belief and action has emerged in different school districts at different times over different issues
I believe this. In general it is always easier to say you are going to do something then don't go through with it. It's like "bark" and "bite." Usually the saying is, if you have a problem with me, tell me, don't go to someone else first. People say this no problem and usually agree but when a problem arises, it's really hard to actually confront the person that you have said problem with.
Most Americans believe that everyone has the right to pursue success but that only some deserve to win, based on their tal-ent, effort, or ambition.
I'd say that this is a really strange belief. When I read the first half of the sentence, "Most Americans believe that everyone has the right to pursue success but that only some deserve to win..." my mind immediately leapt to the idea of racism and sexism. Some people believe that even if people have the talent and ambition to win they shouldn't. Think affirmative action in college admissions.
2 THE AMERICAN DREAM AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS also to make them good citizens who will maintain the nation's values and · In-stitutions, help them flouri~h, and pass them on to the next generation.
The whole sentence I believe to be true. Take the Pledge of Allegiance for example. We learn this as Americans at the young age of 5. This is to show societal values to these maturing brains. The public school education system is truly not only for book smarts but also for "street smarts" in a sense.
We have a great national opportunity-to ensure that every child, in every school, is challenged by high standards, ... to build a culture of achievement that matches the optimism and aspirations of our country. -President George W Bush, 2000
Something that my Post-Production Digifilm professor told our class that stuck with me was that when there is a quote at the beginning of a piece of writing, it must be important. It seems straight forward but this is something I usually didn't think too much about. I was wondering why the introduction quoted two former US Presidents. However, the first sentence talks about the American dream which I can see will be a central idea in this.