Response to Kristof article

USA, Land of Limitations? by Nicholas Kristof

This article is basically about how the type of life you are born into is more or less reflective of the type of life you will die with. It uses the example of a man named Rick Goff who was smart and talented but ended up dropping out of high school and struggling to find steady work. I agree with the article's overall message that the United States does not allow for as much rise in social class as we give it credit for. I've spoken to people before who act like America is so great and the best place to live. First of all, I bring up the point that you can't really say that if America is the only place you've ever lived because it's all you know. Second of all, those cases they may bring up of a dirt poor person rising to be a millionaire in this country are few and far in between and are usually heavily romanticized. If we're being realistic here, which we should always strive to be, I believe that America has to do a lot of work before it can justifiably be called a great country. It is a country much better than some in the third world, but that's not setting the bar very high. I just don't think it's wise to let nationalism blind you in a way that keeps you from the seeing the negative properties of our nation.

 I've chosen this video, though I don't know what movie it's from, because it serves as the perfect metaphor for the point I'm trying to get across. The Jeff Daniels character is giving a presentation at a college with some of his colleagues when one student asks them to answer why America is the greatest country in the world. After trying to stay silent from the backlash he know he will receive, Jeff Daniels eventually snaps and confesses the truth that America is not the greatest country in the world. For the discussion question, I'd like to know what the class thinks about calling America the greatest country in the world and just how close or not close we are to that title.