In his book Linchpin, Seth Godin compares two versions of the American Dream. According to Seth, the old American Dream is what animated millions of Americans for decades. The new American Dream is the dream is the one that markets around the world are embracing and adopting as fast as they can.
| Old American Dream |
New American Dream |
| Keep your head down |
Be remarkable |
| Follow instructions |
Be generous |
| Show up on time |
Create art |
| Work hard |
Make judgment calls |
| Suck it up |
Connect people and ideas |
Which American Dream are we preparing our students for?
Which reality is the one they are more likely to face?
What in education are we doing about it?
I would put it differently. Here are my two versions of the American Dream:
Version 1
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness....
--Thomas Jefferson
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
--Henry David Thoreau
...We here highly resolve...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
--Abraham Lincoln
...Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
--John F. Kennedy
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Version 2
There's a sucker born every minute.
--P.T.Barnum
The business of America is business.
--Calvin Coolidge
My goals are simple: I want to be thin, tan, and rich.
--Young woman in
California, ca. 1983
As far as I can tell, Version 2 is winning by a landslide.
Posted by: Eric T. MacKnight | February 13, 2010 at 11:05 AM