Education Essay For You

Reflection

Reflection
The United States is among the countries in the world that has the most unequal distribution of income. This affects all classes and races in our society. The video vividly demonstrates how low and middle class are struggling every year, for many decades. The history has evidence, though, that after the WWII, the US had a very low inequality and its economy bloomed. Conversely, today the American worker is left alone to face the problems of wages and benefits, and these are not what we expect them to be. The working poor do not have voice.
According to Barbara Ehrenreich, the low-wage experience can only bring miserable feelings and status to the present society. Job seekers face a problem of being misled by their potential employers, for example, the 'help needed' signs are often announced to exploit thousands of applicants. Companies also use the situation of unemployment in the country to rapidly hire and release new employees. The low-wage positions are notorious and the wages are so miserable that do not even cover the costs of one person. This example suggests that too many Americans must make a great sacrifice in terms of their wants and needs. Caring primarily for their employers, the working class forgets about their own values in life. The author suggests that the working poor and philanthropists are synonyms in our society.
Also Michelle Alexander’s book reflects on social, racial and political issues in the United States, in particular, the situation of African Americans, referred to as 'The New Jim Crow'. Having read the book, I got plenty of information that supports the high level of mass incarceration in the US, the country that hosts 25% of the world's prisoners. Frequent repressions of African-Americans and Latinos take place in American cities, where people of color get discriminated for no reason at all and this struggle makes unpleasant consequences for the whole nation. The black population is struggling in this free country to get jobs and they often find themselves bound to a second-class. War on drugs suggests even new kinds of discrimination; the status of a racial caste applied to African Americans, contradicts the equal opportunities and democracy in America, and for that reason Michelle Alexander boldly cries out for every citizen. The indifference of mainstream Americans to these facts is shocking, and only when the minorities finally speak out, can we admit that the human rights and equal opportunities are for everyone.
Alice Goffman’s book is a vivid example of the existent War on Drugs, showing that drugs can be freely sold and used, and African Americans become trapped in the gangs and spend their lives as fugitives. Drug dealers know no mercy and exploit the guys who are unfortunate and lack the right choices in their lives; teenagers miss out on school and spend years running from the police. The adverse problems of the drug trade are not limited to violence only, but seen as sacrifice of whole generations.
A teacher’s role is to respond to the topical issues and engage the students in a meaningful discussion. Moreover, teachers need to know the background to be able to react to problems that arise in educational environment.