Teaching Blog: Inequality

My big question: The United States is the land of opportunity, but why doesn’t everyone have equal opportunities?

When you read the word ‘inequality’ what is the first thing that pops into your head? Is it income inequality, gender inequality, social inequality, marriage inequality, or education inequality? Some of these are more known and popular than others but all are important issues in today’s society. Many people in the United States take pride in the diverse population of the country and proclaim that everyone has equal opportunities no matter who they are.

One of my all time favorite documentaries is “Inequality For All”, which I have watched many times. The narrator, Robert Reich, was able to explain the beginning of inequality in a way that I was able to understand it. I always thought you had to be an economist to understand inequality, but this documentary proves otherwise. I am a very visual person, and the visuals in the documentary were very helpful. Reich also discussed the origins of income inequality and how it has become such a big issue. This documentary opened my eyes about how difficult it is for the typical family to keep food on the table and be financially stable even when they work hard while a millionaire doesn’t even have to raise his finger in order to make more money.

I have always been interested in inequality as I find it mind blowing how some people have more of an advantage than others. For this reason, I want to look into how the inequality gap has gotten so wide and more importantly, why it keeps increasing. Although it is rather impossible to find all the actual reasons, there are a few things that have had a big say in inequality. All of these reasons overlap and intertwine as they affect one another. The consequences of income inequality also contributes to the other problems in our society. Of course, not everyone will agree completely with these reasons and why it is an issue. I believe income inequality is one of the biggest issues in the country we have today, (even though we have a lot of issues…) and that is why that will be the main focus of my lesson.

Homework:

Read: http://business.time.com/2011/11/03/why-the-u-s-is-no-longer-the-land-of-opportunity/

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efv02bn5cZ8 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDyTXLLNRyU

Tweet: Mention something you found interesting from the article and/or the TED Talk.

Note: If you would like to watch “Inequality for All”, Wardman Library has a copy in reserve. I highly recommend it.