Interview Questions

1. Did you graduate from high school?
2. What did you do after High school, college or a job or something else?
3. Did you think you would pursue the career you had/have?
4. How does your career compare to your parents?
5. Do you own a car, or did you?
6. When did you get this car, or if you didn't, when did you most want one or come closest?
7. What kind of house do you live in, what kinds have you had in the past?
8. What house did/do you desire?
9. Do you feel more "free" than your parents or people from your home country if your family are recent immigrants?
10. Are you happy with your life?

Project Proposal

For my project I will investigate the American Dreams of the people, of wide variety/diversity, in my neighborhood. I will interview my parents, a small bussiness owner, and a friendly neighbor. These people vary in ages from very old, to middle adulthood, and also vary in ethnicity and social class. I will then anaylyze the information gained from the interviews and prepare them in a powerpoint presentation for the class.

American Dream Article

The article I read was from Marketplace.org and is called "The New American Dream: An Immigrant's Story". This article is about one immigrant named Nathalie Cortas and her expectations of America and dreams. Nathalie grew up in Venezuela and attempted to get an education there. However, due to Venezuela's impoverished condition, she moved to Florida in an effort to learn more and become successful. She has had issues staying here in the US and says she fears being deported because she can't find work to get a visa. Nathalie prefers the US a million times to Venezuela and says she would do anything besides go back.
I think this article gets at the base of what is changing in American immigration and the "Dream" new immigrants to the United States have. Over the last 50 years the US has been moving from being a large, industrial factory-style economy, to a more knowledge and specialist based society. Most people go to college now for 2 or often 4 years, if not more. In 1950, much less people went to college and the primary reason people came to the US is because they believed there was a lot of cheap, good land and good decent jobs (which didn't require a college education, or often even a high school diploma) were abundant. Today, I think more people are migrating for education and their future generations education. Nathalie's story reflects this for me. I see her as an individual seeking a better life and a higher education, then thinking about the job. When she came she immediately went to college and avoided getting a real job. When she did need a job, there were none to be had. In modern America, education and colleges are a lot easier to achieve than they used to be, and jobs are much harder now due to not only the current economic situation, but also the change in economic ideas, knowledge vs industrial. The modern "American Dream" is more about education than it is about jobs now.

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