The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world and it also has some of the highest levels of inequality globally.
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Investigations on inequality lead to questions on what America truly values. The persistent philosophy of this nation has been that if a person works hard enough they can be happy and successful. When examining trends in economic inequality, however, it seems as if the American Dream is reserved for a select few that have the money to fund opportunities that increase upward economic mobility. Has the idea of the American dream evaporated? Or is this dream reserved for Americans that won the birth lottery?
This unit asks my students to unpack their economic identity to determine how their economic status affects access to opportunities. Success depends on more than hard work, it also depends on a series of uncontrollable factors such as, gender, race, how much money one’s parents make, and where a person grows up. These uncontrollable factors determine whether the path to success will be easy or rocky. A child born into a family with a lower economic status does not have less ability than a child who is born into a wealthy family. The ability to succeed exists in both children, however, the wealthy child will have access to more opportunities to hone their skills than the child in poverty. Through a careful examination of this facet of their identity, my goal is for students to identify the limitations that are correlated to their economic status and the choices that they can make to level the playing field between themselves and their wealthier counterparts.
By the end of this unit students will be able to
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understand that their starting line for success is set due to a series of circumstances that are outside of their control,
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identify that there are choices that they can make to change the trajectory of their futures and their children’s futures,
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define and explain upward mobility,
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and understand that while it is not possible to pinpoint one cause or solution for the persistence of economic inequality, access to higher education is correlated with upward mobility and may be the path towards breaking the cycle of economic inequality.
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By examining economic inequality and its connection to opportunity, I hope to arm my students with an understanding that empowers them to make choices that can increase their chances for upward mobility.