Page 31 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 31
m. a. peters ■ conflicting narratives of the american dream
The American dream for me, growing up in India in the 1970s, looked
something like the opening credits of Dallas. The blockbuster TV se-
ries began with a kaleidoscope of big, brassy, sexy images – tracts of open
land, shiny skyscrapers, fancy cars, cowboy businessmen and the very
dreamy Victoria Principal.
A few years later, when I got to America on a college scholarship, I real-
ized that the real American Dream was somewhat different from Dallas.
I visited college friends in their hometowns and was struck by the spa-
cious suburban houses and the gleaming appliances – even when their
parents had simple, modest jobs. The modern American Dream, for me,
was this general prosperity and well-being for the average person. Euro-
pean civilization had produced the great cathedrals of the world. Amer-
ica had the two-car garage. And this middle-class contentment created
a country of optimists.
Writing in Time in October 2010 and rerunning the theme on CNN
in February 2011, Zakaria notes the angry and dispirited mood of Amer-
icans who, after the worst recession since the Great Depression, are strik-
ingly fatalistic about their prospects. The middle class has been hollowed
out and American workers are losing jobs as American companies locate
off shore. The American Dream can be restored, Zakaria argues, but it
will involve hard and painful choices, and he makes the following recom-
mendations: shift from consumption to investment; invest heavily in edu-
cation and training; develop “fiscal sanity”; and simplify the tax code and
benchmark. He goes on to argue:
My proposals are inherently difficult because they ask the left and right
to come together, cut some spending, pare down entitlements, open up
immigration for knowledge workers, rationalize the tax code – and then
make large investments in education and training, research and technol-
ogy, innovation and infrastructure. But the fact that it is a solution that
crosses political borders should make it more palatable, not less. And
time is crucial.
Zakaria buys into the concept of the American Dream without scru-
tinizing or historicizing it and the way it has changed and been narrative-
ly re-crafted for every age: “That dream or hope has been present from the
start. Ever since we became an independent nation, each generation has
seen an uprising of ordinary Americans to save the American Dream from
the forces which appear to be overwhelming it.”
Yet with all narratives of this kind that serve as a basis of a national
ideal and spell out an appeal to the better nature of citizens to unify them
29
The American dream for me, growing up in India in the 1970s, looked
something like the opening credits of Dallas. The blockbuster TV se-
ries began with a kaleidoscope of big, brassy, sexy images – tracts of open
land, shiny skyscrapers, fancy cars, cowboy businessmen and the very
dreamy Victoria Principal.
A few years later, when I got to America on a college scholarship, I real-
ized that the real American Dream was somewhat different from Dallas.
I visited college friends in their hometowns and was struck by the spa-
cious suburban houses and the gleaming appliances – even when their
parents had simple, modest jobs. The modern American Dream, for me,
was this general prosperity and well-being for the average person. Euro-
pean civilization had produced the great cathedrals of the world. Amer-
ica had the two-car garage. And this middle-class contentment created
a country of optimists.
Writing in Time in October 2010 and rerunning the theme on CNN
in February 2011, Zakaria notes the angry and dispirited mood of Amer-
icans who, after the worst recession since the Great Depression, are strik-
ingly fatalistic about their prospects. The middle class has been hollowed
out and American workers are losing jobs as American companies locate
off shore. The American Dream can be restored, Zakaria argues, but it
will involve hard and painful choices, and he makes the following recom-
mendations: shift from consumption to investment; invest heavily in edu-
cation and training; develop “fiscal sanity”; and simplify the tax code and
benchmark. He goes on to argue:
My proposals are inherently difficult because they ask the left and right
to come together, cut some spending, pare down entitlements, open up
immigration for knowledge workers, rationalize the tax code – and then
make large investments in education and training, research and technol-
ogy, innovation and infrastructure. But the fact that it is a solution that
crosses political borders should make it more palatable, not less. And
time is crucial.
Zakaria buys into the concept of the American Dream without scru-
tinizing or historicizing it and the way it has changed and been narrative-
ly re-crafted for every age: “That dream or hope has been present from the
start. Ever since we became an independent nation, each generation has
seen an uprising of ordinary Americans to save the American Dream from
the forces which appear to be overwhelming it.”
Yet with all narratives of this kind that serve as a basis of a national
ideal and spell out an appeal to the better nature of citizens to unify them
29
