2/23 post

On Thursday, we watched two documentaries about migrant workers and then had a seminar to discuss these issues through the lenses of science, literature, and economics. Examine  how this experience informed your understanding of major themes, such as questioning the American Dream and whether we live in a meritocracy, inThe Great Gatsby.

After watching those two movies, my view of how attainable the American Dream is has definitely shifted. For us, the American Dream seems a lot more realistic and achievable. For some of us like myself, because my parents and grandparents have achieved the stereotypical American Dream. For others, because they only know what they are told about it, which is that it is easily achievable with hard work, and that it is common. Both of which are untrue. There are people that work just as hard if not harder as people socioeconomically above them, yet can't break the cycle of poverty that they live in. It almost seems that in our society, we set it up so that people who already are financially well off are set up to keep receiving even more money, while making it harder for those who are socioeconomically lower to get ahead.