Page 158 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
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šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
cial mobility through education were significant. Of course, such achieve-
ments belong to the times of the welfare state, when the dream and reality
seemed to approach each other. In retrospect, the social accomplishments
of the USA in the first two decades after WW 2 seem even bigger than
they did at the time when they took place.
Most of the presentations of the trajectories of developments since
then give a striking picture of ever bigger inequalities, which, even after
the demonstrable absurdities especially in the context of the so-called fi-
nancial crisis, do not show any signs of culminating. The trajectories, pre-
sented as diagrams, charts, and graphs visualize what I tried to call the
perversion of the American Dream through the influence of neoliberal-
ism. Evoking and comparing different ages instigates poetic impressions
and stimulates hybrid narratives even in the frame of social sciences. Da-
vid Putnam’s book Our Kids is a perfect case of this as a kind of socio-
logical novel, which includes elements of autobiography and of a possible
script for a documentary film. Starting from the description of his home-
town Port Clinton in the 1950’s Putnam offers an idea of the times when
“/…/ social class was not a major constraint on opportunity” (2015, Intro-
duction3). Although there were differences between different regions of
USA, Putnam authenticates by the authority of his scholarship and his
good memory the claim that, “In fact, during this period the dinghies ac-
tually rose slightly faster than the yachts, as income for the top fifth grew
about 2.5 percent annually, while for the bottom fifth the rise was about
3percent a year” (ibid., Chapter 1). Putnam’s confirmation of his claim in
the form of narrating about life stories of his school friends sounds almost
like a fairy tale about the old times, when dreams came true. However, the
“fairy tale” rings much more true, when Putnam applies the same “meth-
od” to later periods as he writes about individuals, who happened to be
borne after the deepened class differences changed prospects for individu-
als from different social backgrounds. These changes are reflected also by
the changes in the appearance, positioning and the social composition of
town quarters. Data and diagrams further confirm the loss of what was
a culture of a social harmony. Putnam’s “novel” should be praised for its
clear depiction of the fate of the American Dream. The end of the Ameri-
can Dream is not the end of education, but it is the end of its role within it.
Conclusion
Putnam does not give any Leninist answer to the Leninist question,
which he uses as the title of the last chapter of his book: “What is to be
3 Since the Putnam’s book was available for me in the Kindle edition, which lacks pagina-
tion, I am indicating only chapters, from which the citations are taken.
156
cial mobility through education were significant. Of course, such achieve-
ments belong to the times of the welfare state, when the dream and reality
seemed to approach each other. In retrospect, the social accomplishments
of the USA in the first two decades after WW 2 seem even bigger than
they did at the time when they took place.
Most of the presentations of the trajectories of developments since
then give a striking picture of ever bigger inequalities, which, even after
the demonstrable absurdities especially in the context of the so-called fi-
nancial crisis, do not show any signs of culminating. The trajectories, pre-
sented as diagrams, charts, and graphs visualize what I tried to call the
perversion of the American Dream through the influence of neoliberal-
ism. Evoking and comparing different ages instigates poetic impressions
and stimulates hybrid narratives even in the frame of social sciences. Da-
vid Putnam’s book Our Kids is a perfect case of this as a kind of socio-
logical novel, which includes elements of autobiography and of a possible
script for a documentary film. Starting from the description of his home-
town Port Clinton in the 1950’s Putnam offers an idea of the times when
“/…/ social class was not a major constraint on opportunity” (2015, Intro-
duction3). Although there were differences between different regions of
USA, Putnam authenticates by the authority of his scholarship and his
good memory the claim that, “In fact, during this period the dinghies ac-
tually rose slightly faster than the yachts, as income for the top fifth grew
about 2.5 percent annually, while for the bottom fifth the rise was about
3percent a year” (ibid., Chapter 1). Putnam’s confirmation of his claim in
the form of narrating about life stories of his school friends sounds almost
like a fairy tale about the old times, when dreams came true. However, the
“fairy tale” rings much more true, when Putnam applies the same “meth-
od” to later periods as he writes about individuals, who happened to be
borne after the deepened class differences changed prospects for individu-
als from different social backgrounds. These changes are reflected also by
the changes in the appearance, positioning and the social composition of
town quarters. Data and diagrams further confirm the loss of what was
a culture of a social harmony. Putnam’s “novel” should be praised for its
clear depiction of the fate of the American Dream. The end of the Ameri-
can Dream is not the end of education, but it is the end of its role within it.
Conclusion
Putnam does not give any Leninist answer to the Leninist question,
which he uses as the title of the last chapter of his book: “What is to be
3 Since the Putnam’s book was available for me in the Kindle edition, which lacks pagina-
tion, I am indicating only chapters, from which the citations are taken.
156
