To the Future...

Just like in our Junior Theme conclusions where we were supposed to look to the future and beyond i am trying that here by doing the same thing. As we finish up our junior year i can actually say that i took away more than just information from this class. I realized that most of my friends classes were all about dates and years. Which is not to say those are not more important but i feel that the understanding why and how questions can help us to understand history more than dates. Thanks Bolos and O'Connor for letting us truly understand that this class is a two way street. We know that we have learned from you, and we do also hope that you have learned from us. 

Wealth Contributors

In class we have covered the fact that land ownership has a direct correlation to wealth. I began to think if any other factors so directly impacts a social status. Maybe not so directly, but a good education can help push people into the direction of perhaps owning a lot of land. 

A good education can help people also in social status because it does a couple of things, 1 if your education allows you to meet other people with the same or greater degree, than you can make strong connections helping you in getting ahead in the world. the 2nd reason is because it allows multiple options for your career. By having a greater career choice your options for attaining a more power prominent job that you actually enjoy are a little higher. 

Other that education, some things that directly relate to wealth we cannot control. Your family name and the amount of respect already placed upon you are huge impacts into your position in the world. Though in class today we learned about people from England who came over were granted land per head they brought. Someone with a lesser class could move up the ranks to a class with great wealth. This is essentially the american dream and how people wish to live their lives today, moving up that social economic latter. 

Road Trip

On my family road trip through Indiana this weekend in noticed a few things that I just had to analyze. The first thing was that the license plates have “in god we trust” in big letters written on them. I was completely shell shocked when I saw this. That would be very controversial in our area but I think that because people in Indiana are more conservative and religions that they are more partial to it than we would ever be.

Now lets relate this to my junior theme, sprawl. On the way driving down I saw many billboards and signs talking about the new development. Many Americans in this area were raised in rural areas and are not used to the idea of developments. Many children of these farm land families are deciding to move to theses developments in order to achieve the so called “American dream” of buying land

Land has been a reoccurring substance throughout the year. Just last Thursday we discussed how land was a way to climb the social latter. In the play The Kentucky Cycles, Michael asked for his life, and for land. This just demonstrates the importance of land ownership.

 Today, one of the most important factors when deciding on home ownership is the land surrounding the property. The average American lot has increased tremendously within the past few years. This is all due to the incredible demand to be viewed as “great” just like the “Great Gatsby”. People with more land have more money and everyone wants to be friends with people who have more money

Physics Day- Secret Messages...

Last friday for physics day we headed out to 6 flags. Located in Gurnee Illinois, a sprawling community I related this to my theme topic of sprawl. 

This was not the only AIS related thought i had this day though, while waiting in line at the Raging Bull, T.Vs surrounding us after playing a Beyonce music video switched over to a "Go Army" commercial. I though this was an interesting place to play those commercials. Why Great America? Why is the military appealing to their costumers and not to people who buy bulls tickets? 

Though i have no proven information or studies, i think this relates to two topics of AIS discussion, Secret Messages and Class from Geography. The Gurnee area is generally of a lower class than the north shore, people from these areas are not as well of and do not have as many advantages as other people do. The army commercials might be playing there because people after high school are at a loss about what to pursue. Around here 95% of students will attend college after high school. That is obviously not the case almost anywhere else in the United States. 

Because these students are at a loss, they are open to many more ideas and opportunities than someone who has already been enrolled in school. 

By playing these commercials at a 6-Flags, they are implying that the people who attend will not pursue a further education and would be available to join the army. This is taken from the secret messages of geographic location. 

Class Assumptions

In American communities class is often looked down towards. Many people to not feel comfortable when talking about social standpoints especially when those conversations are directed and related to wealth and class. After polling my parents about where we stand social-economically they had polar opposite feelings. When asking my father about where we stand, he said the poor one. I assumed that was a joke because of our obvious surroundings. Then he later replied by saying that we were fine.  Maybe he assumed i was asking these questions because i was worried about that. 

This relates to how Americans are curious about everyone else's situations financially. I believe that people judge other people based on classes. I mean this is obvious considering our surrounding environment. When people go to poorer areas to talk with the people their it is called community service. Granted most of community service is a great service and i highly endorse it. Some people think they they are better and because they are wealthier they are more knowledgeable. 

Connections

The past discussions we have had in class about levels in society have significantly related to my Junior Theme topic about sprawl. It might not seem like they relate but the do more than you would think. Much of sprawl is created in order to separate upper from middle from lower class. 

Americans feel more comfortable with their "own kind" some one in the middle class might feel out of place with say some one in the extreme upper class. The same goes for some one in the extreme upper class feeling uncomfortable with some one in the middle class. Because of this trend developers are now creating divisions or differently priced real-estate to accommodate these feelings.  

In Duanys Suburban Nation he created an image of a sign that showed moderate homes to the left, middle upper-class homes to the right and the largest sign was for the upper class to the north. This just further displays the separation.