Page 33 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 33
m. a. peters ■ conflicting narratives of the american dream
es merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman
shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately ca-
pable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the for-
tuitous circumstances of birth or position (pp. 214–215)
Adams was a writer rather than an academic, and as a freelance writ-
er, he wrote colonial histories. His trilogy on the history of New England
was warmly received, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for the first volume,
“The Founding of New England” (1921). He was active in the American
Society of Arts and Letters and various historical societies. In his “The
Epic of America,” Adams attempted to address the historic development
and philosophic vision of America that strongly reflected the values of the
Declaration as uniquely American and extolled the advantages of educa-
tion as a means for the promoting of equality of opportunity, meritocra-
cy and social mobility. When he wrote “The Epic of America” while living
in London, 16 percent of the workforce was unemployed – some 8 mil-
lion Americans – and unemployment was to get much worse as the De-
pression dragged on. He died disappointed in his country after a heart at-
tack in 1949.
Jim Cullen (2003) historicizes the American Dream, focusing on the
founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence as “the charter of
the American Dream,” as well as on Abraham Lincoln and his dream for
a unified nation, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of racial equality. He
argues that the contemporary version of the American Dream has become
debased, built on its outlandish dreams of overnight fame and fortune.
Perhaps most significantly, Cullen sees the American Dream as embody-
ing the ideal that all men are created equal. Even with the obvious contra-
diction of slavery, the essence of this dream allowed for the possibility of
racial equality, class mobility and home ownership – values that are part
of the core of collective consciousness of Americans.
Like Adams, Cullen deplores the way the American Dream increas-
ingly becomes the pursuit of material prosperity and consumerism. David
Camp (2009) suggests that while it matured into a shared dream under
Roosevelt’s New Deal, when a new level of security was cemented in place
by The Social Security Act of 1935,4 it was re-calibrated during the period
of postwar prosperity:
Buttressed by postwar optimism and prosperity, the American Dream
was undergoing another recalibration. Now it really did translate into
specific goals rather than Adams’s more broadly defined aspirations.
Home ownership was the fundamental goal, but, depending on who
4 See the wonderful set of photos that accompanies this article at http://www.vanityfair.
com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904?currentPage=1.
31
es merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman
shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately ca-
pable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the for-
tuitous circumstances of birth or position (pp. 214–215)
Adams was a writer rather than an academic, and as a freelance writ-
er, he wrote colonial histories. His trilogy on the history of New England
was warmly received, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for the first volume,
“The Founding of New England” (1921). He was active in the American
Society of Arts and Letters and various historical societies. In his “The
Epic of America,” Adams attempted to address the historic development
and philosophic vision of America that strongly reflected the values of the
Declaration as uniquely American and extolled the advantages of educa-
tion as a means for the promoting of equality of opportunity, meritocra-
cy and social mobility. When he wrote “The Epic of America” while living
in London, 16 percent of the workforce was unemployed – some 8 mil-
lion Americans – and unemployment was to get much worse as the De-
pression dragged on. He died disappointed in his country after a heart at-
tack in 1949.
Jim Cullen (2003) historicizes the American Dream, focusing on the
founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence as “the charter of
the American Dream,” as well as on Abraham Lincoln and his dream for
a unified nation, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of racial equality. He
argues that the contemporary version of the American Dream has become
debased, built on its outlandish dreams of overnight fame and fortune.
Perhaps most significantly, Cullen sees the American Dream as embody-
ing the ideal that all men are created equal. Even with the obvious contra-
diction of slavery, the essence of this dream allowed for the possibility of
racial equality, class mobility and home ownership – values that are part
of the core of collective consciousness of Americans.
Like Adams, Cullen deplores the way the American Dream increas-
ingly becomes the pursuit of material prosperity and consumerism. David
Camp (2009) suggests that while it matured into a shared dream under
Roosevelt’s New Deal, when a new level of security was cemented in place
by The Social Security Act of 1935,4 it was re-calibrated during the period
of postwar prosperity:
Buttressed by postwar optimism and prosperity, the American Dream
was undergoing another recalibration. Now it really did translate into
specific goals rather than Adams’s more broadly defined aspirations.
Home ownership was the fundamental goal, but, depending on who
4 See the wonderful set of photos that accompanies this article at http://www.vanityfair.
com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904?currentPage=1.
31
