Is the American Dream dying?

I decided to complete Kim's webquest based on the novel "The Tortilla Curtain".

What exactly is the “American Dream”? The term is used loosely to mean just about anything from the acquisition of wealth, to home ownership, to moral license-all without appreciation for the original significance of the Dream. It once used to be universally known as going to America to work hard and strike success and live a better life. Wikipedia defines it as “a phrase referring to the supposed freedom that allows all citizens and all residents of the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard work and free choice”. The key word in this definition is the pursuit of their goal. Each person’s aspirations and goals are different so who has the right to judge if someone has achieved their dream or not.

There may still be people who immigrate for the dream because living poorly in the states is still better than living poorly in other countries. Some people come and are happy making minimum wage and getting by with shelter and food, but the dream that with hard work you can climb up the social change is nearly dead. Even in the beginning of the United States the dream was fickle and very hard to achieve but now the dream is nothing but an illusion…a myth.

The US’s current economic status definitely effects people’s idea of the “American Dream”. With experienced long time employees losing jobs and scavenging for jobs they are well overqualified for, simply to put food on the table for their family, what chance is there for immigrants to come and live the dream with no open job markets? In previous decades, the illusion of the dream was still thriving and instigating people to come to America to work hard and make money but now, America’s economic security and image is spiraling down. It is the survival of the fittest and those who take hold of every opportunity and work had still may fall short.

Lesson Plan-Snow Falling On Cedars

-Before reading any of these articles write a response to this prompt.

“In this time and age prejudice and racism is still present. However it is mainly associated with blacks, homosexuals, and other races. Do you believe prejudice against asian Americans is still present? If so, how?”

-Summary of novel:
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memory grows as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries--memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched. Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric, Snow Falling on Cedars is a masterpiece of suspense-- one that leaves us shaken and changed. Throughout the book, the story flashes back and forth from the past in order to highlight the tension and discrimination by the whites towards the japanese.

-Now here are various sources to broaden your knowledge of discrimination against Asian Americans. First read Jake's most recent post about the effects of prejudice and racism against asian-americans. It also touches on how it effects those world wide. Here is another blog that touches on an overview of prejudice aimed towards Asian-Americans. You can also go onto delicious.com/mhongcedars for more links including other blogs, articles, pictures, and videos to help show you the prevalence or if you chose to believe so, the obsolete"ness" of prejudice.
(more sites at delicious.com tag: mhongcedars)

-There are various sources that we can use such as itunes and databases to further our knowledge on this subject. In the itunes store, search "the fallout central podcast" and listen to the podcast posted on January 14th. This podcast compliments one of the articles from my delicious page on the discrimination Asians feel at the polls. Yet another valuable source is questia.com . Search "racism against asian americans" and click and read the frist news paper article called "resurgent racism".

-Here are some quotes from the novel that help show the attitude the whites had towards the Asian American (japanese) residents of the island:
1."The Japs did it. They shot my arm off. Japs."
2."We're sly and treacherous. Can't trust a Jap, can you?"
3."Will you contribute to the indifferent forces that ceaselessly conspire toward injustice?"
4. "An enemy on an island is an enemy forever."

-Now that you have read so much about the current status quo of racism against Asian Americans think back to your answer to the prompt above. Does this change anything? If so, what? (write a 2 paragraph post)
-Finally write a third paragraph talking about your opinion on if events such as the Virginia Tech shooting affect peoples views on a race as a whole and lead to more racism and discrimination? or if these isolated events effect only the people who were part of the tragedy. (use at least 2 sources within these 3 paragraphs. You may use the ones provided or find new sources to make your argument stronger)

Discrimination Against Asian-Americans

Why is racism against African Americans and Jews considered hate crimes by the public while that same racism against Asians is not? Asian discrimination and racism has been around for hundreds of years and is as harmful and prevalent to that of these other races. In the Washington State University March issue of their newspaper, Alex Kuo delves into the issue of, “How much progress against racism has WSU really made” (Kuo 1). Racism as a whole has dramatically decreased in the last few decades but it is still around. At WSU 30 years ago, there were "three Asian American female students working at this counseling/support center encountered repeated racial epithets, animal calls and gestures simulating chinky eyes from two varsity basketball players passing by their workplace. The in-house student conduct staff concluded these accusations were not serious enough to warrant a full investigation, referring to the two athletes' actions as adolescent behavior that was misconstrued as racially oriented" (Kuo 9). This only shows that racism against asians is not taken on the same level in the eyes of non-asians. However, callingo an asian a "chink" and calling somone who is african american a "nigger" is of the same nature and yet when an outside party hears both, one is clearly seen as more offensive and more racist than the other. In the same sense, "chink" is deemed the result of adolescent behavior and not punished as racism. The article shows that after events such as WWII and the Virginia Tech Shooting, there is an increase in cautiousness and racism towards people of that race.

This problem is evident throughout the story of Kabuo Miyamoto in David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars. Mr. Miyamoto is on trial throughout the book for the murder of a fellow fisherman and war veteran. The back stories tell the reader that the Japanese immigrated in order to find jobs and work in the local mill and as share croppers picking strawberries. Asian americans are known as people, "who depended on our own efforts and not welfare checks" (Kuo 12) and yet people look down on that as if Asianas are willing to work for any type of pay, ruining their chances at making money. Even with their hatred for the immigrants there is a cycle of benefit which they would break if they were to kick out all the japanese. Kabuo even fought on the American side during WWII, not with the Japanese and yet the war has cased an anti-japanese climate and he knew from the start he would not be getting a free trial. After an event like 9/11 or the Virginia Tech shooting, there is always a sense of heightened fear against a whole race of people even when there was only a few people involved int eh tragic events. This is the same with Kabuo who was disciminated with an unfair trial simply because he was Japanese. It didnt matter where his loyalty was as long as the color of his skin was of yellow descent and he had smaller eyes than his neighbors. Racism has not gotten any better both in the book or at Washington State University, instead it has become more accepted as a form of joking and not the harsh cruel racism it really is.

Being an asian american and having lived in America for my entire life, I have become accustomed to the asian joking around but there is a thin line between joking among friends and blatant racist comments. As one of the WSU alumn's tried to write, "racism is no more..."; this is not true. "There are no Ku Klux Klan chapters on campus or in Pullman" (Kuo 13), nor was there ever a holocaust. Because there never was some big event or period of time when there was brutal racism known to everyone, people think asian americans have not been the victim of racism and discrimination. Discrimination can take many forms from physical hazing to discrimination in college admissions. With the newly instated affirmative action, top colleges make it harder for asians to get accepted, but the chances of whites being accepted has not changed. A yale student sued the school for discriminating only against asians in favor of hispanics and african americans and at the same time did not affect whites. The more common discrimination is less physical and abusive as it was in the past.

Kuo, Alex. "How much progress against racism has WSU really made?" Seattle PI 1
Mar. 2009. 15 Mar. 2009 401894_alexkuo_01.html>.

Will and Grace

Will and Grace was a hit tv series about a gay man and his best friend who happened to be a straight female. Will, a successful Manhattan lawyer, is likable, handsome, charming and gay. Grace is a beautiful, self-employed interior designer who just left her fiancé at the altar. Together, they decide to face life's ups and downs, knowing they will always have each other to lean on. The episode I chose had multiple gay characters; some behaving in a very stereotypical manor while others broke the stereotype and acted more like a “typical” heterosexual.

The man Will begins to date in this episode is a sports journalist and loves all kinds of sports; both to play and watch. Watching his actions the viewer would not be able to tell his sexual preference. Throughout the episode, he breaks the heterosexist perspective and sheds light on the fact that people who act heterosexual may be homosexual and just act like any heterosexual person; he goes to bars, drinks beer, plays sports, and the only difference is that he likes men and takes better care of his fashion. However there is another extreme in the secondary character of Jack, Will's friend. He is characterized with all the stereotypes of gay men and is very flamboyant and feminine in character. Finally there is the main character Will, who is in the middle not extreme on either side. He acts professional at work and walking around if one didn’t hear him talk they may not have known he was gay, but the way in which he talks and some of the things he talks about; especially clothes; gives way to his true nature. In class we talked about the heterosexual privileges which are very pertinent but are less so in the life of those characters from this show. I believe location has a big role in this.

This show takes place in NYC which has such a varied population of people of all races, sexual preference, and religions that there is a greater acceptance of gay people. In the suburbs there are likely to be more conservative people who look down or discriminate against gays. The gay men in this show range from police officers, sports writers, lawyers, to fashion designers showing that gay men are not limited in life. The years in which this show was broadcasted was when the gay people’s issue was starting to become accepted by some. This tv show educates society that gay men come in all shapes and forms and can act just as “normal” as any other heterosexual man and I believe it was successful on the air because of its incorporation of humor and variety among their gay characters.
In the last decade the acceptance of gay men has risen drastically. Some states have created laws allowing gay marriages and more and more gay couples are coming out and revealing their sexuality and true nature to those around them. It is still awkward at times seeing a gay couple but there is no more witch hunt to persecute those who are gay.

Gender Bias in the Classroom

As more and more women enter the science field there is still a stereotype against women in the field. The vast majority of science teachers in American high schools are men and the few women that have dedicated their lives to teaching the sciences are being underrated by their students based on their sex and not their teaching ability. This is discussed in Susan Polowczuk's "Gender bias found in student ratings of high school teachers" article concluding on a Clemsen University research project. The believe that, "students have developed a specific sense of gender-appropriate roles in the sciences by the end of high school" (Polowczuk 4) and through their study have proven their claim with many statistics. With social equality improving everywhere throughout society why is there still a bias in the classroom? Male students underrated their female teachers in both chemistry and physics while female students underrated their female teachers in only physics. As far as society has come to balance the playing field, students have an inner bias which makes them believe male teachers are more fit to educate them on the sciences even though tests have shown that both male and female teachers have an equal effectiveness at preparing students for college (Polowczuk 11). Some say this is wrong and sexist but how can that be when the majority of female students underrate their own female teachers. I would have to agree with the researchers in that female science teachers are just as effective and yet many times underestimated and looked down upon compared to male teachers.

The sciences have always been more dominated by males and the stereotype is very much still prevalent. Even though the female equality movement has changed the lifestyle around us, there is still a border of, “what are and what are not appropriate roles for males and females in science” (Polowczuk6). There have been improvements but this is still evident in the number of female students and teachers in the field. Our entire physics department currently has one female teacher who has just started for the first time this year, before her there were only male teachers. Physics is definitely the most male dominated out of the three major high school sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics. Many believe that, “such a bias could negatively impact female students and contribute to the loss of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics" (Polowczuk 6) and I would have to agree. Although my school is a little different because both our valedictorian and salutatorian are females who excel in math and science, our entire AP physics class consists of only male students.
Throughout my high school life, all but one of my six science teachers have been male and the majority of the class was always males over females. When I heard we were getting a female teacher for AP physics I was shocked…but why should I be? Females can perform just as well as males in the physics field and their teaching capability does not change based on gender. Even the female students not in the class were curious to see what kind of teacher she would be. If we were told we would have a male teacher we wouldn’t have thought about it until the first day of school, but solely because of her gender we were curious and anxious to meet the teacher. What is it about students' mindsets that make us fix a position and subject to "fit" male and female teachers. Based on this study there is no set reason why this trend has happened but I believe it is simply a question of the chicken and the egg. There are currently few female science teachers and fewer females enjoying the sciences compared to men. As those few females go to college even fewer will turn out to be science teachers and the cycle will happen again where there will always be a domination of science teaching positions by male over female (Polowczuk 8). Because of this the female science teachers will continue to be looked as the underdog and be underestimated by the students who will subconsciously rate their male teachers higher based solely on their gut instead of the teacher's credentials or their teaching ability.
Will this stereotype ever be broken? Unless there is a huge surge of female students into the science teaching field, this trend will most likely continue. There is evidence that female teachers have been highly underrated by their students in this study and the results can be read in detail at an affiliated site. This trend has been seen not only in the high school level but also the ratio of female to male students who strive for a PhD along with becoming a college professor follows the same trend. There have been much research done on the lack of female interest in the sciences and there has been a slight increase in the women in the science fields. Eventually there is an unspoken goal to level out the playing field but there is no indication that the current status quo of female science teachers will change anytime in the near future. As to our nature of underrating teachers based on gender, it is programmed into student's brains for no apparent reason and yet it is undeniably there. There is a hard road ahead for female teachers with hardship but in the end if they have the drive to teach and educated young minds, one that is a road they must fight through.

Work Cited

Polowczuk, Susan. "Gender bias found in student ratings of high school science teachers." Newsroom. 2 Feb.
2009. Clemson University. 12 Feb. 2009. [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02
/090202174953.htm].

Korean

Hey this is my first post.  It's a poem we made in english that had to explain some rules about one of the social groups we're in.  We read the poem 'Girl' by Jamaica Kincaid and created our own poem.  I chose to write about being a Korean.  Take into account these aren't the rules that all koreans live by.  Lots of this poem is revealing the stereotypical rules of life as a Korean; many are accurate but by no means are all these rules prevalent to all koreans.  Some parts are simply a combination of the stereotypes of Koreans and are very false, but I felt it was necessary when talking about the rules Koreans live by.

by Michael Hong
Read the chapter before class; study the notes after class; don’t mix study with talking; be sure to get good grades; or be prepared to fail; spend your time reading; you must be at the top of your math class; make sure to excel at everything you do; don’t play games until 4 am; instead with that extra time play and instrument; it must be violin, cello, or the piano; say your prayers before eating; thank the mom after; love your family; love your parents; respect your elders; bow to them when they approach; doesn’t matter if you know them or not, bow;  

this is how you swing a golf club; this is how to hit a chip; this is how you putt the ball; this is how to bet on every hole and in order to do this; you must become a doctor or lawyer to make lots of money; money your parents moved to America for; do not become an artist or musician unless you want to bring dishonor to the family; this is how you try smoking; this is how to stand in a circle and talk; this is how to sing and drink at a karaoke room; you must attend church every Sunday and Friday; you mustn’t speak during the sermon and service; but remember to clap and sing during the opening praise; this is how you never turn your phone off; this is how parents pick up their phones during funerals and weddings; without even turning the volume down; make sure to take lots of pictures; stick up two fingers when taking pictures or put them sideways if you are not a fob; always eat rice at every meal; this is how to make kimchi; be sure to be able to eat spicy food; this is how to pick out good fruit; this is how to throw away sour kimchi; this is how to negotiate at the market; this is how to use wooden chopsticks with two hands; this is how to use metal chopsticks; this is how to use one hand and pick up rice; this is how to relax after a long day; you must have at least two of the three; facebook, xanga, or cyworld; you mustn’t forget about a webcam and oovoo;  what about those who like to watch television?; you must watch Korean dramas; no matter how obvious the plot is or repetitive, you must continue to watch and enjoy it; no matter how cliché; who am I?; follow these rules and guess you're Korean.

Another blog that discusses the diversity of our nation is linked here.  There are various posts dealing with subject matters of the family culture along with nationality differences.