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Home Who Is a Person in America? Debate--Caucus Table

Lydia Eicher It is very necessary for our society that everybody has same rights and opportunities. Everyone should be rewarded for his hard work because if they notice that they will earn what they deserve they will work harder. “Equal pay for equal work has arrived in the workplace for women, Hispanics and African-American (“Gender Discrimination in the workplace” quoted in Michael Mitiska (One Minute Speech)).” This is necessary to reward everyone equally for his hard work. “Thirty percent of” unemployed persons “are Americans who have disabilities (Annie Trexler (Timeline Topics)).“ Like the ADA did, we have to make it possible for people with disabilities to earn what they deserve. In the Book //The Beans Trees// by Barbara Kingsolver two illegal immigrants are treated very bad and unfair. They had to hide from the government although they worked really hard, supported our country and gave other people the opportunity to learn our language (because one of them was an English teacher). Everyone should have same rights and opportunities not affected by their wealth, race or gender.
 * Equal opportunities and rights**


 * Timeline Topic:** Trexler, Annie "Americans with Disabilities Act" BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies Wiki
 * One Minute Speech:**Mitiska, Michael "Gender preferences in workplaces" BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies Wiki
 * Book:** Stacy, Elena, Jill, Lydia, Domenic //"The Bean Trees//by Barbara Kingsolver" BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies Wiki

__**Equal Opportunities and Rights**__ Emma Piotrowski

In our ideal society, equal opportunities and rights are given to every citizen. We feel this is necessary because in The United States, there are people who are born into poor families and poor neighborhoods, therefore going to a school that does not have the money to support programs that colleges will be looking for. People are discriminated for race, color, sex, and religion at their jobs and in their schools. An example of where equal opportunities aren't given is in the book //The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian// by Sherman Alexie is written from the point of view of a Native American child born and raised on a reservation where the education system isn't properly funded and for that reason the main character goes to a school 20 minutes away. Most of the time he has to hitchhike there and back. Now, not every kid on the reservation had this opportunity. Most of them were born into poverty and it wasn't their fault or their parents. They "came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people"(Alexie 11) So, in our society, people who work hard will get the opportunities they deserve because it is their right to.

**__ Hard Work is Rewarded with Success __** Katie Van Winkle In our Ideal Society, hard work equals success. We feel that those who work for things deserve the reward they reap. In the book, //Five Flavors of Dumb// by Antony John, the main character is deaf and her collage fund has been drained, in order to pay for collage she becomes the manager of the band Dumb. Linda Brown, according to Andrew S.’s timeline article, worked for her right to go to an all white school and because of her hard work she was able to get a better education and was successful in life. Our society today, according to ‘What Happened to the American Work Ethic’ article we received in class, is not willing ot work hard for their money and for this reason our society has forgotten many of the lessons hard work teaches. This is why hard work will equal success in our ideal society.

__**Hard Work is Rewarded with Success**__ Becca Jaskot In the 'perfect' American society, hard work (from given opportunities) would be rewarded with success and would define your place in the social hierarchy regardless of physical differences (a color-blind society). In //The Secret Life of Bees// by Sue Monk Kidd, Rosaleen (a black woman) has almost single handedly raised a young Lily and has worked hard all her life, but even when African-Americans are finally recognized as equal, her position in society does not change nor does the discrimination against her. Many of the white men in the the society are lazy and ungrateful, but because of Rosaleen's race, she's not treated equally or given the thanks she deserves from all of her hard work. Race-Based Affirmative Action would not be used because it goes against the color-blind society we'd be working for and would give people in "hard" situations a spot over someone who has worked their whole life to get into the college of their dreams. In a class paper we received, it states that "[Race-Based Affirmative Action] doesn't take into account intellectual diversity (Arguments Against Race-Based Affirmative Action)". This means that race should not be the main focus but the smarts of a person and if they are willing to work hard and put their best effort into what they're doing. The Bakke Case in 1978 displayed this unfairness of focusing more on race diversity. Bakke worked hard to get into a specific college and attempted 3 times to be accepted but his hard work was not rewarded fairly and was denied to opportunity to better himself (Bobby B.). Success should be based off a person's hard work and effort to better themselves or the society.

Rule of Law- abby wilmer One distinct factor of our vision for an ideal society is to focus on the rule of law. The rule of law would make sure that each United States citizen follows the law, which mostly affects illegal immigrants and undocumented citizens. “ The second Ku Klux Klan executed mostly Catholics, Immigrants, and Jews during that time because they did not consider them ‘Americans… The second Ku Klux Klan wanted to strengthen Nationalism in the United States’” (Murray, Ku Klux Klan Turning Point). The second Ku Klux Klan approached removing unlike Americans harshly and physically, but the outcome was Americans with the same interests and beliefs and nationalism rose. Since immigrating without documents is illegal, they should leave the country because of their ignorance of the rule of law to provide jobs, more nationalism, and an example of where you can end up by not following the law. “ Because they are illegal immigrants, they do not certify as legal citizens and therefore should not be entitled to the rights and protections given by the law because in order to receive those rights, you have to be a legal citizen” (Furlong, 6. Undocumented Workers…). The United States should not be giving rights and privileges to Americans who aren’t even legal because even some legal Americans are stripped of rights due to their situation. “[Illegal immigrant children] had no choice but to come here illegally because as children, they had no say in the matter…this is where affirmative action and the DREAM act come into play” (Kern, 5. Minor children of illegal immigrants are entitled…). Unlike our idea to remove illegal immigrants from America, children of illegal immigrants should have the same rights and opportunities as a legal American which can be achieved by affirmative action and the newer act, the DREAM act. Similar to giving illegal immigrant children, the book, __Warriors Don’t Cry,__ by Melba Patilla Beals illustrates a true story of African Americans integrating into a white high school (Central High) by affirmative action in Little Rock, Arkansas. “In the end, everyone [(all the students at Central High School)] is equal and that makes the difference. Melba’s story ends in a positive way even though she started out being one of the most hated people in Little Rock, Arkansas” (Nini, Limotta, Wilmer, Garcia, Infante; Warriors Don’t Cry, group 1). Enforcement of the rule of law would cause illegal immigration numbers to go down and participate in creating an ideal society.

Works Cited: Furlong, Gigi. "6. Undocumented Workers Are Entitled to the Same Rights and Protections as Documented Workers." Web log post. // BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. . Murray, Ashley. "Ku Klux Klan Turning Point." Web log post.//BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies//. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. . Nini, Mitchel, Elizabeth Limotta, Abby Wilmer, Givi Garcia, and Arat Infante. "Warriors Don't Cry, Group 1." Web log post. // BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. . Kern, Alex. "5. Minor Children of Illegal Immigrants Are Entitled to the Same Rights and Protections as All American Citizens." Web log post.//BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies//. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. .