Do me a favor real quick. Go outisde and ask a random person what social class they're in. Seriously, I dare you. No don't worry, I'll wait.
Back so soon? What did they say? I thought so.
The vast majority of Americans would have answered that question with "middle class." However, only 35% of the U.S. population is really middle class. How can that be?
Simply put, we are completely blind to the distribution of wealth in our nation. The only thing we see is our individual life and our individual economic status. Rich people think everyone else is rich. Poor people think everyone else is poor. Only a few people really have it right.
Here's a little graph of the ugly truth:
As you may or may not be able to see, the gray line represents the top 1% of our nation, and the red line represents the bottom 80%. And as you may or may not be able to see, the gap between the two lines has widened significantly throughout the past 30 years.
This week in Sociology we have been watching a video about the social class system in America, and how big a difference there is between the highest of the high and the lowest of the low. As entertaining as the video is, the facts shown by it brilliantly reflect exactly what is being shown in the graph above.
However, if you ask me, the wealth gap really isn't something with which we need to be too concerned right now. What's truly important is the promise America made to us at Her birth, and whether or not that promise is being fulfilled. The Constitution promises us three unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Of all those three, I do believe that the pursuit of happiness is by far the most important. In itself, it encompasses the other two, as well as sums up the entire goal of the U.S.'s capitalistic government. No matter what sex, race, class, or location into which you were born, the United States promises that you have just as good a chance of making it as anyone else. Wrong.
Take applying to college as an example. Admissions take a variety of factors into account: your citizenship, where you live, your grades, your standardized test scores, your essays, your ethnicity, etc. Is this really fair? Should colleges really let minorities get in before whites simply because they're minorities? The idea of this affirmative action plan is really one of very clear motive, and with it I agree completely. As social mobility is becoming increasingly more difficult, the United States wants to make sure those with racial disadvantages don't suffer simply because of where they live.
Growing up in poverty most likely means going to a school without sufficient resources, such as textbooks, computers, good-quality teachers, standardized test prep, etc. Therefore, not only will those in wealthier neighborhoods be able to better afford the tuition, but they will most likely also have better grades and test scores. This then leads to what universities have been accustomed to for so long: Rich white kids at Yale; poor black kids at community college (or no college at all).
In that sense, the affirmative action plan is a very good idea. However, there are always exceptions.
Just this past weekend I was talking to my friend Ina about applying to college. Ina lives in the same wealthy school district as me, and although my house is bigger (we have 6 kids and they only have 2), her family is definitely better-off financially. She and her younger sister are both exceptionally intelligent; Ina has a GPA above a 4.0. She is taking 2 different test prep courses and has already taken the ACT more than once, receiving outstanding scores. Frankly, Ina is destined to get into an awesome school. To make matters worse, Ina's mom is Norwegian and her dad is Nicaraguan, so she can legally put 'Hispanic' as her race when taking tests and filling out applications. When addressing this, she simply said, "I don't agree with it, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take advantage of it!" I mean come on, who wouldn't?! However, because of this affirmative action, she will more than likely get into a better school than I do, even though I too have above a 4.0 GPA and am taking the same ACT prep course with her. In this case, I am a little ticked off with the system.
As always, things are fine as long as they don't affect me. So now, my opinion is that this affirmative action plan needs to be fixed ASAP so that these injustices can be put to rest. I really want to get into a good college! :)
