Comprehension Check

A Newsweek Poll on Immigration

Determine whether the statements are true or false and correct the false ones with reference to the information given in the Newsweek poll.

1. About half the Americans surveyed believe
that too many Asians immigrate into the
U.S.

2. Most Americans believe that the fastest way
of being integrated into American life is
speaking only English.

THE MAKING OF A NATION 23

3. A vast majority of Americans believe that
firms which hire illegal aliens should be
penalized.

4. Most Americans feel that the government
would have too much control over them if
identity cards were introduced.

5. Most Americans would not like to see illegal
immigrants return to their countries.

6. There is almost unanimous agreement that
illegal immigrants are hard-working people.

7. About a third of all Americans agree that
many immigrants are a social and economic
burden for society.

8. The notion that the culture of immigrants
enriches the American culture is not shared
by most people surveyed.

5. Discussion Points

1. Are there different ethnic groups in your country? Where do they come from? Where

do they live? How do they differ from the majority of people in your country with respect to customs, religion, clothing, food, music, etc.?

2. How is immigration handled in your
country? Are there any major restrictions?
What do you know about the immigrants'
motives for leaving their mother countries
and what are their expectations about living
in your country?

3. To what extent do you think immigrants of
different ethnic backgrounds should be
integrated into society? How do the ethnic
minorities themselves feel about this issue?

6. Picture Analysis

Describe and compare these pictures featuring immigration to the U.S. 100 years ago and today.

Illegal Mexican immigrants detected by helicopter border control as they try to cross the Rio Grande

German immigrants in the 1890s greeting the Statue of Liberty as they enter New York Harbor

24 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

7. Essay Writing

"Emigrating to the U.S. Today"

Write an essay of about 300 words on this topic expressing why you could or could not imagine emigrating to the United States.

Debate

Prepare and carry out a debate on the motion

"The U.S. should strictly prohibit all illegal

immigration."

The following diagram and the text are meant to

inform you about the structure and the rules of a

debate.

Chairperson

proposer

Opposer

For

seconder

Seconder

^{: ::}

Audience

A debate is a formal discussion led by a chair­person who presents the subject of the debate which is called the motion. The proposer makes a short speech giving arguments for the motion, whereas the opposer speaks against it. Then the proposer and the opposer are supported by their seconders, who take up the arguments already presented. The audience may interrupt the speakers to ask questions on

points of information (but not to discuss their arguments!). When the main speakers have finished, the chairperson declares the motion open to general discussion by the audience, at the end of which the opposer and then the proposer give summaries of the points which have been made. Finally a vote is taken on the motion.

2 American Beliefs and Values

PART A Background Information

IDEALS AND VALUES What among all of its regional and cultural diversity gives America its national character and enables its citizens to affirm their common identity as Americans? Clearly, having a particular race or creed or lifestyle does not identify one as American. However, there are certain ideals and values, rooted in the country's history, which many Americans share.

FREEDOM At the center of all that Americans value is freedom. Americans commonly

regard their society as the freest and best in the world. They like to think of their country as a welcoming haven for those longing for freedom and oppor­tunity. They are proud to point out that even today America's immigration offices are flooded with hopeful applicants who expect the chance for a better life. The news of a Soviet ballet dancer's or Polish artist's defection to the United States arouses a rush of national pride, for such events give substance to the ideal of freedom that America represents to its people and to the world. Moreover, such news events provide continuity to Americans' perception of their history as being that of a nation populated by immigrants who exercised free choice in coming to the New World for a better life.

Americans' understanding of freedom is shaped by the Founding Fathers' belief that all people are equal and that the role of government is to protect each person's basic "inalienable" rights. The U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, assures individual rights, including provisions for freedom of speech, press, and religion.

The notion that America offers freedom for all is an ideal that unifies Americans and links present to past. Yet this ideal has not always corresponded to reality. The inconsistency of black slavery in a society supposedly dedicated to freedom and equality plagued the nation from the very beginning and was not resolved until the Civil War. Reality continues to demonstrate that some social groups and individuals are not as free as others. Because of religious, racial, sex, or age discrimination some Americans have not enjoyed the same rights and opportunities as others. In a real sense, American history is the

Founding Father: member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which drafted the fundamental law of the U.S.

Bill of Rights: the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

26 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

INDIVIDUALISM

IDEALIZING WHAT IS PRACTICAL

history of groups and individuals struggling to attain the freedoms the Founding Fathers promised.

Americans' notion of freedom focuses on the individual, and individualism has strong philosophical roots in America. Thomas Jefferson, philosopher, third president of the nation and author of the Declaration of Independence, believed that a free individual's identity should be held sacred and that his or her dignity and integrity should not be violated. America's nineteenth-century Transcendentalist philosophers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller, argued for more individual self-reliance. Transcendentalists encouraged individuals to trust in themselves and their own consciences and to revolt against routine and habitual paths of conduct. The nineteenth-century poet Walt Whitman celebrated the individual in his poetry. In By Blue Ontario's Shore Whitman writes,

I swear nothing is good to me now that ignores individuals,

The American compact is altogether with individuals.

Early twentieth-century Pragmatists such as William James and John Dewey insisted upon the individual's ability to control his or her fate.

Individualism, understood not only as self-reliance but also as economic self-sufficiency, has been a central theme in American history. In the early days, most Americans were farmers whose success depended not on cooper­ation with others but on their ability to confront the hardships of land and climate on their own. Both success and virtue were measured by individual resourcefulness. In American history, the concept of "rugged individualism' is commonly identified with frontier heroes such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, men who braved the wilderness alone. The idealization of the self-reliant individual translated itself in the industrial age into the celebration of the small businessman who became a financial success on his own.

Even in today's society, where most Americans work for large, complex organizations and few people can claim economic self-sufficiency, individualism persists. Individual proprietorship in business is still extolled as the ideal. Government regulation is often resisted in the spirit of individualism. "Right to work" laws, which discourage union activity, are defended on the grounds that they protect the independence of the individual worker.

Many historians believe that most of the beliefs and values which are charac­teristically American emerged within the context of the frontier experience. Survival in the wilderness was best achieved by robust individualists. Survival experiences also explain the American tendency to idealize whatever is prac­tical. In America, what works is what counts. Most pioneers who went west

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-82): American philosopher, essayist, япс! poet. Thoreau, Henry David (1817—62): American philosopher, essayist, and poet. Fuller, Margaret (1810—50): American author, critic, and feminist leader. James, William (1842—1910): American philosopher and psychologist. Dewey, John (1859-1952): American philosopher, educator, and author. Boone, Daniel (1734—1820): American pioneer; explored and settled Kentucky. Crockett, David ("Davy") (1786-1836): American frontiersman and politician.

frontier: in American history the frontier was the edge of the settled country where unlimited cheap land was available attracting pioneers who were willing to live the hard but independent life in the West.

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 27

VOLUNTEERISM

PSYCHOLOGY OF ABUNDANCE

had not trained themselves in prairie fanning or sod house construction, but they trusted they would be able to devise workable solutions to the daily problems and dangers they faced. Inventiveness was necessary for survival.

This "can-do" spirit is something Americans are proud of today. They like to think they are natural-born do-it-yourselfers. In which country does one find such a variety of "how-to" books and self-service opportunities? There are do-it-yourself books on everything from how to build and repair your own engine to how to be your own best friend. Self-service arrangements include time-saving clerkless airline ticket counters and do-it-yourself telephone install­ment kits. These kinds of solutions appeal to Americans' preference for what­ever is quick and practical.

The do-it-yourself spirit is known as volunteerism in American community and political life. Volunteerism means people helping people through privately-initiated, rather than government-sponsored, agencies. Volunteers, usually unpaid, are highly motivated workers who organize themselves and others to solve a particular community problem or meet an immediate social need, rather than waiting for someone else—usually the government—to do it. Vol­unteerism is pervasive, arising wherever social services do not cover com­munity needs. When a high school football team requires money for uniforms, parents and students form an athletic association which organizes car washes and bake sales to raise money for uniforms. Volunteer fund-raising groups step in to help the needy in all spheres: there are groups that hold clothing drives for the poor and homeless as well as groups that organize expensive money-raising dinners to save a symphony orchestra, for example. Where there are gaps in federal social programs, volunteers provide services such as adult education, psychological counseling, and legal aid. The willingness to participate in such groups is so widespread that six out of ten Americans are members of a volunteer organization. Volunteerism reflects Americans' opti­mistic pride in their ability to work out practical solutions themselves.

It is easy to be an optimistic do-it-yourselfer in so many spheres when one takes for granted an abundance of resources. Historically, Americans have regarded their country as a land of limitless wealth. The first colonists of the New World wrote letters back home, contrasting the riches of America with the scarcity of the lands from which they came. Sir Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia in 1611, said of his colony: "Take four of the best kingdoms in Christendom and put them all together, they may in no way compare with this country either for commodities or goodness of soil." Fertile land was cheap and available to anyone who wanted to farm. A country where everyone could take what he wanted was indeed alluring. Yet as settlement on the east coast increased, resources were gradually depleted. Some tobacco lands began to be exhausted and abandoned before the end of the eighteenth century, and cotton lands were also abandoned when their fertility was used up. Did it matter? No. There were still inexhaustible acres in the limitless West.

The words of a popular pioneer song capture the attitude that prevailed:

Come along, come along, make no delay,

Come from every nation, come from every way,

Our lands are broad enough, don't be alarmed,

For Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm.

The abundance of untapped natural resources on the American frontier attracted not only farmers, but also game hunters, fur trappers, gold and silver miners, lumberjacks, and cattle ranchers. Those who exploited the land exercised little

28 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

MOBILITY

PATRIOTISM

restraint and opposed government regulation of their activities. The buffalo was hunted to near extinction, millions of acres of forested land were cut and burned, and rivers were polluted from mining.

Still America is rich in natural resources. But attitudes toward wastefulness are changing. While some Americans still believe in the inexhaustibility of the nation's resources, others reluctantly recognize that the era of cheap and plentiful resources is over. They realize that America must adopt new values to cope with a shrinking world. Today, America's Mountain West, the least populated region of the country where resources seem barely tapped, is suf­fering from a severe water shortage. Westerners are faced with the need to restrict population growth and reconsider uses for water. Limits such as these are difficult to acknowledge because they contradict the psychology of abundance which has become so much a part of the American way of life.

The pragmatism of Americans and their trust in an abundance of resources relates to the American habit of mobility. As a nation of immigrants, Americans have from the beginning shared the assumption that the practical solution to a problem is to move elsewhere and make a fresh start. After all, this is the attitude that settled the West. Mobility in America is not a sign of aimlessness but optimism. Pioneers made the arduous journey westward because they believed they could establish a better life for themselves and their children. Now, Americans move from place to place with the same sense of optimism, hoping to secure a better job or enjoy a warmer climate.

Moving about from place to place is such a common and accepted practice that most Americans take it for granted that they may live in four or five cities during their lifetime, perhaps buying a house and then reselling it each time they move. Consequently, when Americans go house-hunting, their foremost concern is usually how profitably they will be able to resell the house. A comfortable, well-designed house is not necessarily desirable unless it has a good resale value. Americans hate to feel that buying a house might immobilize them forever, thereby inhibiting their chances of bettering their lives.

The American habit of mobility has been important in contributing a degree of homogeneity to a society of such extreme cultural diversity and spaciousness. Cultural differences still exist from region to region, but they are becoming increasingly less distinct as mutual exchange occurs.

A further consequence of Americans' mobility is that they develop relatively little attachment to place. In this century, national pride has become generally stronger than regional pride. Foreign visitors to America are quick to observe the prevalence of patriotic symbols: flags fly in suburban neighborhoods, bumper stickers announce "I'm proud to be American," the national anthem is played at every sporting event. National holidays such as Thanksgiving and Independence Day intensify the sense of national identity. Yet patriotism in America is in some ways distinct from patriotism in other countries. In many nations, patriotism is essentially the love of the land. Songs celebrate the scenery of certain rivers, valleys, and forests. In America, however, this specific sense of place, this identification with a particular geographical region as the

Thanksgiving Day: a national holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November to give thanks to God for the harvest, remembering particularly the first successful harvest of the early settlers who had suffered a terrible winter when they arrived.

Independence Day: July 4, a national holiday celebrating the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 29

PROGRESS

AMERICAN DREAM

QUESTIONING OF VALUES

homeland, is generally not developed to this extent. American patriotism is concentrated instead upon the particular historic event of the nation's creation as a new start and upon the idea of freedom which inspired the nation's beginnings.

Directly associated with the value of freedom is the ideal of progress. The nation's progress has been measured by the taming of the frontier and industrial expansion. The desire to progress by making use of opportunities is important to Americans. In this immigrant society, progress is personally measured as family progress over generations. Many Americans can boast that with each succeeding generation since their first ancestors arrived, the family's status has improved. The classic American family saga is all about progress. The great-grandparents, arriving from the Old World with nothing but the clothes on their backs, work hard and suffer poverty and alienation so that they can provide a good education for their children. The second generation, motivated by the same vision of the future and willingness to work hard and make sacrifices, pass these values to their children. The attainment of the vision of one's grandparents is part of the American Dream.

The term American Dream, used in widely different contexts from political speeches to Broadway musicals, eludes precise definition. J. T. Adams in The Epic of America (1931) expressed it as "the dream of a land in which life should be better, richer, and fuller for every man with opportunities for each according to his abilities and achievement." The American Dream is popularized in countless rags-to-riches stories and in the portrayal of the good life in adver­tising and on TV shows. It teaches Americans to believe that contentment can be reached through the virtues of thrift, hard work, family loyalty, and faith in the free enterprise system.

However, throughout America's history, reality has also taught her citizens, particularly minorities, that the American Dream is not open to all. Segregation and discrimination are effective tools which have barred minorities from equal opportunities in all spheres.

Events in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most obviously the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, jolted the country with doubts and insecurities and created fundamental divisions among Americans about their country's goals. The mainstream Protestant values which had held society together seemed to be collapsing, and no coherent, unifying system of belief emerged as an alternative. The 1980s saw a return to conservative family values and morals, as well as a renewal of national pride. The ultimate significance, however, of this conservative revival is uncertain. Some critics observe that with the break­down of consensus on beliefs and values which began around 1970, there has been increasing disparity of opinion about Americans' values and national goals.

Vietnam War: see page 15.

Watergate scandal: an illegal break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1972, involving Republican presidential campaign employees. President Nixon's cover-up led to his resignation in 1974.

PART в Texts

The american idea

By Theodore H. White

When he died seven weeks ago. Theodore H. White, the

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, was working

on an article for this magazine to commemorate the Fourth

of July. Below is an excerpt from the unfinished piece.

The Statue of Liberty

HE IDEA WAS THERE AT THE very beginning, well before Thomas Jefferson put it into words — and the idea rang the call.

Jefferson himself could not have imagined the reach of his call across the world in time to come when he wrote:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

But over the next two centuries the call would reach the potato patches of Ireland, the ghettoes of Europe, the paddyfields of China, stirring farmers to leave their lands and townsmen their trades and thus unsettling all traditional civilizations.

It is the call from Thomas Jefferson, em­bodied in the great statue that looks down the Narrows of New York Harbor, and in the immigrants who answered the call, that we now celebrate.

SOME OF THE FIRST EUROPEAN

Americans had come to the new continent to worship God in their own way, others to seek

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 31

1. continued

their fortunes. But, over a century-and-a-half, the new world changed those Europeans, above all the Englishmen who had come to North America. Neither King nor Court nor Church could stretch over the ocean to the wild conti­nent. To survive, the first emigrants had to learn to govern themselves. But the freedom of the wilderness whetted their appetites for more freedoms. By the time Jefferson drafted his call, men were in the field fighting for those new-learned freedoms, killing and being killed by English soldiers, the best-trained troops in the world, supplied by the world's greatest navy. Only something worth dying for could unite American volunteers and keep them in the field — a stated cause, a flag, a nation they could call their own.

When, on the Fourth of July, 1776, the colonial leaders who had been meeting as a Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to approve Jefferson's Declaration of Indepen­dence, it was not puffed-up rhetoric for them to pledge to each other "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." Unless their new "United States of America" won the war, the Congressmen would be judged traitors as relent­lessly as would the irregulars-under-arms in the field. And all knew what English law allowed in

the case of a traitor. The victim could be partly strangled; drawn, or disemboweled, while still alive, his entrails then burned and his body quartered.

The new Americans were tough men fighting for a very tough idea. How they won their battles is a story for the schoolbooks, studied by scholars, wrapped in myths by historians and poets. But what is most important is the story of the idea that made them into a nation, the idea that had an explosive power undreamed of in 1776.

All other nations had come into being among people whose families had lived for time out of mind on the same land where they were born. Englishmen are English, Frenchmen are French, Chinese are Chinese, while their governments come and go; their national states can be torn apart and remade without losing their nationhood. But Americans are a nation born of an idea; not the place, but the idea, created the United States Government.

The story we celebrate this weekend is the story of how this idea worked itself out, how it stretched and changed and how the call for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" does still, as it did in the beginning, mean different things to different people ...

Statue of Liberty: a large copper statue located on Liberty Island in New York harbor, given to the U.S. by France in 1886.

Declaration of Independence: the document that proclaimed the freedom of the 13 American colonies from British rule. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, it was adopted on July 4 1776.

War of Independence: the war between Great Britain and her colonies in North America (1775—83) by which the colonies won their independence (also called the Revolutionary

War).

32 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

) J

Arnold Schwarzenegger

I was born in a little Austrian town, outside Graz. It was a 300-year-old house.

When I was ten years old, I had the dream of being the best in the world in something. When I was fifteen, I had a dream that I wanted to be the best body builder m the world and the most muscular man. It was not only a dream I dreamed at night. It was also a daydream. It was so much in my mind that I felt it had to become a reality. It took me five years of hard work. Five years later, I turned this dream into reality and became Mr. Universe, the best-built man in the world.

"Winning" is a very important word. There is one that achieves what he wanted to achieve and there are hundreds of thousands that failed. It singles you out: the winner.

I came out second three times, but that is not what I call losing. The bottom line for me was: Arnold has to be the winner. I have to win more often the Mr, Universe title than anybody else. I won it five times consecutively. I hold the record as Mr. Olympia, the top professional body-building championship. I won it six times. That's why I retired. There was nobody even close to me. Everybody gave up competing against me. That's what I call a winner.

When I was a small boy, my dream was not to be big physically, but big in way that every­body listens to me when I talk, that I'm a very important person, that people recognize me and see me as something special. I had a big need for being singled out.

Also my dream was to end up in America. ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger

It is the country where you can turn your dream into reality. Other countries don't have those things. When I came over here to America, I felt I was in heaven. In America, we don't have an obstacle. Nobody's holding you back.

Number One in America pretty much takes care of the rest of the world. You kind of run through the rest of the world like nothing. I'm trying to make people in America aware that they should appreciate what they have here. You have the best tax advantages here and the best prices here and the best products here.

One of the things I always had was a business mind. When I was in high school, a majority of my classes were business classes. Economics and accounting and mathematics. When I came over here to this country, I really didn't speak English almost at all. I learned English and then started taking business courses, because that's what America is best known for: business. Turn­ing one dollar into a million dollars in a short period of time. Also when you make money, how do you keep it?

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 33

2. continued

That's one of the most important things when you have money in your hand, how can you keep it? Or make more out of it? Real estate is one of the best ways of doing that. I own apart­ment buildings, office buildings, and raw land. That's my love, real estate.

I have emotions. But what you do, you keep them cold or you store them away for a time. You must control your emotions, you must have command over yourself. ...

Sport is one of those activities where you really have to concentrate. You must pay atten­tion a hundred percent to the particular thing you're doing. There must be nothing else on your mind. Emotions must not interfere. Other­wise, you're thinking about your girlfriend. You're in love, your positive energies get channeled into another direction rather than going into your weight room or making money,

You have to choose at a very early date what you want: a normal life or to achieve things you want to achieve. I never wanted to win a popularity contest in doing things the way people want me to do it. I went the road I thought was best for me. A few people thought I was cold, selfish. Later they found out that's not the case. After I achieve my goal, I can be Mr. Nice Guy. You know what I mean?

California is to me a dreamland. It is the absolute combination of everything I was always looking for. It has all the money in the world there, show business there, wonderful weather there, beautiful country, ocean is there. Snow skiing in the winter, you can go in the desert the same day. You have beautiful-looking people there. They all have a tan.

I believe very strongly in the philosophy of staying hungry. If you have a dream and it becomes a reality, don't stay satisfied with it too long. Make up a new dream and hunt after that one and turn it into reality. When you have that dream achieved, make up a new dream.

I am a strong believer in Western philosophy, the philosophy of success, of progress, of getting rich. The Eastern philosophy is passive, which I believe in maybe three percent of the times, and the ninety-seven percent is Western, con­quering and going on. It's a beautiful philosophy, and America should keep it up.

Florence Scala

In the late fifties, Florence Scala led the fight against City Hall to save her old neighborhood on Chicago's near West Side. It was a multi­ethnic, multiracial community. It was one of the city's most alive areas. It is now a complex of institutions, expressways, of public-housing pro­jects, and a few islands of old-timers, hanging on. ...

I had a feeling that things would happen in my life that would be magical. I think everybody has that feeling, I thought I would grow up to be whatever it was I wanted to be. I was a dreamer. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a writer, a journalist. My dreams have not been fulfilled personally,

I was born in 1918. My first memory, as a small girl, was going to school and not being able to speak English, feeling panicky and running all the way home. I became ashamed of my mother. She was very emotional and used to make scenes. I didn't want her to take me to school any more.

I remember a crowded city street, and my father on the pressing iron and my mother sew­ing in the store, and all of us playing out on the street. I don't remember those days with loving nostalgia. The street was miserable. But I always felt way up in the summertime and late afternoon, and the sun shining and people coming home. It was always a magic time for me.

My parents worked very hard. You had to when you're running a small business like that, a tailor shop. They worked with their hands all the time. He did the pressing and the tailoring. My mother did the more simple things of repairing. Getting up very early in the morning, working late at night. He would do the pressing during the day, the sewing in the evening. He'd close the store about nine o'clock at night. We lived in back of the store, until my teens. Then we moved upstairs. My mother decided I should have a room for myself.

Oh, our neighborhood was a mess. At the same time, it was a wonder. There was a lot of anxiety because of the hooliganism. Our parents

34 AMERICA IN CLOSE UP

2. continued

were worried because the kids might get in­volved and that it would touch their lives. My father was frightened during the trade union wars in the cleaning industry, which was domi­nated by hoodlums. For weeks, his business was closed down because they struck the plant and he had no place to send the clothes. Then he was a scab and took the clothes to another clean­ing establishment. There were killings on the streets. We were used to seeing that. Among Italians, there were padrones who went to mediate the fights within the neighborhoods.

My father never participated in any of this. He was aloof, a loner. He was really an educated man by the standards of the time. He did a lot of reading. He loved opera. He would buy all the librettos. We still have our old Caruso records. The other thing he loved was astronomy. He knew how far the moon was from the earth, how far Venus was. He thought the trip to the moon was a waste of time, a waste of money, because, he said, there is nothing they discovered that he hadn't already known.

He had this one dream that he wanted to see Grand Canyon. He never saw it. He was so tired by the time he had time that he was afraid to take the trip. I never really got to talk to him. He was very shy and lonely.

Black people came to our store, left clothes. They were people who painted and did car­pentry. They were craftsmen. Our parents had no animosity toward blacks. They — the immi­grants — saw themselves as being in the same predicament, trying to make it in the city. I never remember any racial conflict when I was little. Later I saw it.

Today the community is very small, five or six square blocks. There's public housing, largely black. The medical center students and young people from advertising and TV see it as part of chic downtown. Some old Italian families are hanging on. It began to change as my gener­ation was growing up. People my age wanted

to be more like the people from other com­munities ... Friends of mine would prefer to meet their friends elsewhere than invite them into the neighborhood. That didn't happen in my case because I was growing up in a whole different atmosphere of pride.

I don't have regrets. I believe strongly — and I see signs of it today — that what we were trying to do and didn't succeed in doing had left its mark on the people there. They don't take things sitting down any more. They remember the struggle to save the neighborhood with a certain amount of sadness and a certain amount of respect.

I don't dream any more like I used to. I be­lieved that in this country, we would have all we needed for the decent life. I don't see that any more. The self-interest of the individual — "I'm number one" — is contaminating much of our thinking today. It's happening with our institutions as well. They seem to be acting in their own self-interest.

The world doesn't seem definable any more. Even this city. I see it becoming more and more disoriented. I'm against bigness for its own sake. We walk down the street and don't even look at one another. We're strangers. It's a time that's hard to figure out.

It's a world I don't know. The world of the computer and the microwave oven. I'll never have one. [Laughs.] There are things alien to my understanding. Younger people growing up will find it easier to contend with, but I doubt it. They'll conform because it's the only way to go. Big Brother is there. I think they will become digits. I don't see myself as a digit, but I know I'm becoming one. It's necessary for me to have my Social Security number available or my driver's license, because I don't have credit cards. It's un-American. Anywhere I gotta pay cash. You see, I'm not a digit yet. [Laughs.]

I don't even know what the American Dream is any more. Maybe it's picking up some pieces I've left behind.

padrone: a man who exploitatively employs or finds work for Italian immigrants.

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 35

A Discussion of American Beliefs and Values

In the following interview four young Americans are asked what they think about their own country, how they feel about being Americans, and what their values are. As seniors at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma, California, they all take English literature as one of their college prep classes. The participants are Shannon Alexander (18), Mark and Andrew Ferguson (17), and Mike McKay (18).

Section 1

Interviewer: The traditional American value system has included preaching hard work and worshipping the dollar. It has been part of the American Dream that if you only work hard enough, you can make it. Do you think these values are still important? Andrew. Andrew: I think they really are. I think they are really valid in America of nowadays because it's really coming back in on the media, TV, news­papers about people who are successes from hard work. And really that's all we are treated with all our life. And I think anyone, anyone at all, could make it really big, if they just tried really hard, no matter what. I don't think it really

matters about their background. And I think that being a success is really what's important in America — that society really frowns upon people who don't make it. So, if you're not a success, if you're just a medium success, you feel — like you're failing. That's my feeling. Interviewer: Mark, you agree with your brother?

Mark: No, not really. I feel that hard work still has its value in America but success, I think, has a different definition and money isn't really as valuable. I think that success has become more a measure of a person to himself rather than a person to society and that people don't

36 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

3. continued

look down on you if you're happy what you're doing. And actual money isn't really as import­ant as it used to be. And people have found that less money can make you as happy as more money.

Interviewer: Do you agree, Andrew? Andrew: No, I don't agree because how you feel about yourself is influenced by your society and society does encourage success and does look down on its people who are not successful as far as money goes, and whether or not they are happy with themselves doesn't matter. Interviewer: Mark.

Mark: Although that what you are saying is true, I feel that society's importance to the indi­vidual has lessened, even with our generation, society's criticism isn't as important to people any more. It is more important to people to be happy.

Interviewer: Mike, you want to join in? Mike: I kind of feel that the society ideal of success has really been kind of drifting out. It reached its height with the American yuppie. The yuppie, you know, is trying to achieve. Everybody is trying to be alike, and everybody wants to own a BMW and things like that.

Section 2

Interviewer: It is sometimes said that winning is an American passion. But in order to succeed you've got to compete. In other words, rivalry and not cooperation is the spur to achievement. Then, if this society is a society which encour­ages individualism, how do more social values fit in? Mike.

Mike: I definitely think that winning is an American obsession. You can just kind of look at what the Vietnam War did to us in the past 20 years. It really ripped apart American society. It divided some people. It divided American society. Many people felt we shouldn't have been in there first place, others felt that while we were there, we might as well win, others felt we really should be there trying to save Vietnam from itself or something to that effect. And it really

ripped us apart, and it is because of the fact, you know, it was one of the first wars we really didn't win. And it was really tough on America. Shannon: I wanted to say that winning is dif­ferent things to different people. And while some people think winning would be becoming a president of a major corporation and running a whole bunch of financial situations, other people think winning is helping people around them. To the social workers it's the feeling that they want to help the poor and they want to help the elderly, and to them that's winning. And it's sort of everyone has their own ideals, and some like to help others and some people don't care about anyone but themselves.

Interviewer: What would be winning to you? Shannon: Winning to me? Well, if I won, which would be becoming a famous actress, world-famous, that would be my ideal because I love to act and I always wanted to be famous, I guess. But I wouldn't forget the people around me and I would never do any dirty tricks to get ahead. I'd still be conscious of the society around me.

Interviewer: Andrew.

Andrew: I think most people are like that. And, they want to win without really hurting anyone else. However, I think that the bottom line is that there are winners and there are losers, and everybody would rather really be a winner and that somebody else be the loser. And, I guess that is the sort of attitude I have. But I'd never want to tread over anyone else, of course.

Section 3

Interviewer: One feature that has often been associated with the American dream is the desire to be well-liked. Do you still subscribe to this idea? Mark.

Mark: No, not very much, though, on a social level there are still many people who have to be well-liked. It's part of their personalities. And they like to form into different groups where they all dress the same and talk the same. But a lot of people like ourselves don't conform to this

yuppie: (young urban professional), a young person in a professional job with a high income, especially one who enjoys spending money and having a fashionable way of life.

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 37

value at all. So we have much fewer friends but a much more honest relationship. And being well-liked is very important because it can be very hard to have people not like you or just think you're very strange or something. But it's more important to be more honest with yourself. Interviewer: Andrew.

Andrew: There are a lot of people at this school who are, I think, really fairly phoney. They do things they do not really want to. They dress in a way they do not really want to just because their group is doing it and they want to fit in. And none of us four really were ever like that. So we can't really get into that kind of mind. Shannon: Um, I had two things to say, one about what they were speaking of. I did go through a phase, I guess, from 8th to 10th grade, where it was important for me to be well-liked and I did dress like my friends and talk like my friends. But then I just felt so out of place because I have my own ideas and I've been raised all my life to think the way I wanted to think. And now I live a different sort of life. I have people I act with and people that I talk with and I really enjoy my A.P. class because the people there really think. And that's the life I like to live. Not just, you know, have everyone like you for stupid reasons but because you respect each other. I think it's a goal that a lot of people have, to have a respect of other people, and that's the kind of liking that people want. They want people to respect them and to listen to what they have to say. Interviewer: Mike.

Mike: Whether someone agrees with you or not isn't really necessarily the most important matter. The most important matter is respect. Interviewer: Andrew.

Andrew: Respect is so important. I think I'd much rather be respected for my opinion to being myself than just being liked.

Section 4

Interviewer: The famous quote from theDeclaration of Independence that this country grants equal opportunities for all — is that still valid? To what extent does a certain ethnic background or a certain family background help to predetermine future chances in life? Mark. Mark: I feel that rich people have much more of an opportunity than the poor people. The poor people can succeed but they need luck and there is no guarantee that goes with it. The rich people, they have a lot more leeway in what goes in their lives. They start out a step up. Shannon: A lot depends on the type of family background you have and the type of parents you have and if they promote thinking and if they bring different views to you. And I've known many friends that ... these views they have are so rigid and they refuse to think and they refuse to understand what other people have to say because their parents said well this is how it is, and this is the way we think. I feel lucky my parents have always told me the way many people thought and I was given opportunity to choose. And that's important too. Interviewer: Mike.

Mike: Under the law there is equal oppor­tunity in the United States, more than there ever was before. Interviewer: Andrew.

Andrew: Yes, but in reality you also got to be aware of schooling. Many poor people, generally blacks in slum areas, go to schools and they have to work and drop out of school by 10th grade and they will never finish high school and without a high school diploma you cannot make it in America, at least it's almost impossible. Interviewer: Mike.

Mike: It takes a lot more drive to succeed if you're black or if you're shall we say just kind of less advantaged.

A. P. class: advanced placement class, open to outstanding Seniors at an American high school, bringing students to a first year of college (Freshman) level of proficiency.

38 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

Patriotism is like religion; those who believe in it view the rest of us as sinners, condemned to purgatory — or at least to an uncozy predicament in trie Viere and now. . . .

Rejoice, ye sinners! Fear not! This patriotism thing is a hoax.

. . . Patriotism and nationalism are identical twins. They infect people with a feeling of superiority, of belli­cose pride, that translates into war slogans easy as apple pie.

Trying to extricate the virtues of patriotism from the vice of national­ism is like trying to pluck the quills from a porcupine. It can't be done. Or if it can, you won't be left with a porcupine.

Still, we are implored to embrace patriotism. Many good-hearted souls survey the political horizon and de­spair. They see a rolling conservative tide, with Ronald Reagan riding its crest. The only way to survive, they say, is to get on that wave. And so, we are told, we must be more patriotic than our right-wing neighbors. No

matter the duplicity involved, if we want to effect political change and gain the support of our unenlightened fellow citizens, we should wrap ourselves in trie flag.

Unfortunately, we'd succeed only in suffocating ourselves. When the Left, the radicals, the superliberals join the patriotic chorus, it reinforces the message that America is on the side of virtue. . . .

Our more philosophical friends tug us from the opposite direction. They tell us that the concept of patriotism — as distinct from nationalism — transports us from petty individualistic concerns to an awareness of a greater, more noble identity that is communal. They utter starchy, upright phrases about indi­viduals not existing in a vacuum but in a social framework of family, community, and country. From this, they conclude that our identities are entwined with these institutions and, to some extent at least, owe them an obligation.

This is sheer folly. . . .

Free will and individual liberty are forsaken in this repressive philos­ophy, which denies the individual the right to create and develop his or her own identity. . . .

The notion that one owes an obli­gation to one's country is absurd. Like the defenders of family, church, and community, the champions of the modern nation state want us to believe that inanimate objects — mere social sandboxes — deserve to com­mand our respect, love, and loyalty. This is reification of the highest order.

Our obligations should be to our­selves and our fellow living beings, not to some bloodless concoction of bygone rulers. Our identities should be of our own making, not imposed by an ancient cartographer. And our loyalties should not stop at the border.

Once we recognize this, we won't fall into the good old American trap of caring solely for U.S. citizens and not a whit for inhabitants of other countries. The United States can kill two million Indochinese, but Americans concern themselves only with the less than 60,000 U.S. soldiers who fell in the fetid conflict of Vietnam. Something's not right about that, and that something is patriotism.

Yet it's not ^ust a Uome-grown affliction. Always a dutiful and willing servant, patriotism has carried the body bags for every modern ruler from Napoleon to Hitler, Stalin to Pol Pot.

"Patriotism is the most primitive of passions," Jorge Luis Borges has observed. It's been around for thou­sands of years, and these days the sentiment is transmitted in the home, the classroom, the assembly hall, the athletic field, as well as on the radio waves and television screens. No day passes without our being bombarded by some patriotic message or symbol.

It's a tough bug to shake, but that doesn't mean we should celebrate the disease. Nothing justifies a salute to patriotism. It is too dangerous a con­cept to be toyed with. And by playing the silly game of capture the flag, we only capture ourselves.

part C Exercises

1. Previewing and Anticipation

The American Idea

Try to get a global idea of what the text is about by first looking at the headline, introduction and source. Then quickly read the beginning (first three paragraphs) of the article.

1. Where, when, and on what occasion was the
article published?

2. Why could the information given about the
author be of interest to the reader?

3. What is meant by "The American Idea" and
who was the first to formulate it?

Scanning

Now go quickly through the text to extract information to answer the following questions:

1. Which basic motives of the first European
settlers for coming to America are mentioned
in the text?

2. According to Т. Н. White, what was it that
made the American volunteers persevere in
their revolutionary war against the
better-equipped English soldiers?

3. What would have happened to the colonial
leaders if the war had been lost?

4. Which decisive difference between the
American nation and other nations does the
author point out?

5. What does the author want to convey to the
reader by writing this article?

Comprehension

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Which way of completing each of the following sentences agrees with the text? Some sentences may be completed in more than one way.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger dreamed of being the best body builder in the world

a) when he was a little boy.

b) when he was fifteen.

c) when he was twenty.

2. He stopped taking part in body-building
competitions because

a) he believed he had won the
championship too often already.

b) he was afraid that he might lose the title if
he tried again.

c) he had no serious competition.

3. According to Arnold Schwarzenegger,
America is the country where

a) nothing can prevent people from fulfilling
their dreams

b) everybody is Number One.

c) the chances to be economically successful
are better than in any other country.

4. Arnold Schwarzenegger became a successful
businessman because he

a) was business-minded.

b) took courses in English and business.

c) became a real estate agent.

5. Schwarzenegger maintains that emotions

a) provide the energy that leads to success.

b) have to be suppressed if you want to be
successful.

c) prevent you from concentrating on your
primary goal of making money.

6. Schwarzenegger thinks that popularity

a) is the key to success.

b) has to be subordinated to success.

c) is as important as being successful.

7. Schwarzenegger believes

a) that poverty and hunger make people
dream of success.

b) that people should never be content with
what they have achieved.

c) that hungry people are dreamers unable to
achieve anything.

Florence Scala

Which of the following statements are true and which are false according to the information given in the text? Correct the false statements.

1. When Florence Scala was young she did not
'believe in the American Dream.

2. As a small girl she was afraid of school
because she could not speak English.

40 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

3. When Florence Scala thinks of her childhood,
nostalgic memories come to her mind.

4. Her parents worked for a tailor who lived on
the same street.

5. They were afraid that their children might
turn into hooligans.

6. During the trade union wars in the cleaning
industry her father went on strike.

7. Her father avoided getting involved in the
fights that took place in the neighborhood.

8. Her father was unusually well-educated.

9. He never really had the time to fulfill his
dream of going to the Grand Canyon.

10. Her parents were somewhat prejudiced
against black people.

11. Today the community she grew up in has
changed a lot.

12. Looking back on her efforts to save the
neighborhood, Florence Scala now thinks
she wasted her energy.

13. Florence Scala thinks that the American
Dream promotes selfish attitudes.

14. She believes that technical progress has led
to a less humane world.

4. Evaluation

Use the following scale to determine to what extent Arnold Schwarzenegger, Florence Scala and her parents would agree or disagree with the following statements. How do you feel about these statements?

strong agreement agreement undecided disagreement strong disagreement

1. All people are given equal opportunity in
life.

2. Everybody has a chance to succeed if he or
she only works hard enough.

3. Money and material wealth are what matters
most in life.

4. Winning in competitions is one of the most
important things in life.

5. Self-reliance is more important than concern
for others.

6. Being popular is as important as material
success.

5. Comment on a Cartoon

Comment on the following cartoon and show how it relates to the American Dream. Give the cartoon a title.

THE JOV NINTHS a AflN6

WHAT HAPPEN5 IF fOU PRACTICE FOR TUI£NT'CYEAR5,ANP THEN ENP UP NOT 0EIN6 RICH ANP FAMOUS

Reproduced by permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

AMERICAN BELIEFS AND VALUES 41

6. Comprehension Survey

A Discussion of American Beliefs and Values —Section1

Let us find out how the value systems of Andrew, Mark, and Mike differ. Have a look at the statements below and decide who holds which view.

Cloze Summary

A Discussion of American Beliefs and Values—Section3