Not In Kansas Anymore
One of the more pervasive American myths I have encountered is the idea that everyone gets an equal opportunity to take in the advantages of this great land.
I once sat in a community college class and waited until the professor finally arrived… 48 minutes after the class was scheduled to begin.
There was very little talk of leaving because we all knew that this is a community college in an, um, under served area. The professor had been very late before, and most likely will be late again.
Earlier this semester I watched in astonishment as this same professor admitted to having grabbed the wrong stack of paper, and thus given the class the wrong exam. I was shocked not so much by her mistake as the fact that she so openly admitted it. Back in the America that I come from a professor would have had to cover by any means possible in order to avoid students outrage.
We can tell ourselves that everyone can achieve success in America, if only they put forth the effort, but that only reveals our own willful ignorance of the many places that all get to claims to be the same country.
Wah! Wah! So something stood between you and what you wanted, and you did nothing about it? All you can do now is whine about how some American myth is a big fat lie, because things did not work out perfectly for you? How much longer will you be able to play the victim? I find myself wondering if people like yourself any incentive to stay in America? I doubt it.