John F.  Kennedy

American University Commencement Address

“Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude towards peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives -- as many of you who are graduating today will have an opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home. But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because freedom is incomplete. It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government -- local, State, and National -- to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within our authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever the authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of others and respect the law of the land.”

                 The president John F. Kennedy in the last 6 paragraphs of his speech emphasized in the civil right and how the city or the nation by that time viewed human rights (Civil right).  Everyone living in our society had the same rights; that everyone to pursue a dream or a resolution like going to school (college). Moreover, how harmony and liberty articulate together to the good of  all citizenship. Also, how he described in many of the States, freedom was not notable or implemented. Citizen’s rights should have been the responsibility of the executive branch, but at the same time all citizen’s should  follow rules and laws which would work hand in hand  in order to accomplish what he was looking for was harmony for it was a battle to improve American fairness.

              Choosing this paragraph makes me think about the inequality regarding education and how many students have to pay out of pocket  to achieve a dream. But that is nothing compare to how many struggle to accomplish his/her goal and then earn very little income (teachers –CUNY teachers, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/nyregion/cuny-faculty-members-arrested-after-staging-protest.html) . In addition, bias in our society is a big issues since everything and everyone is placed in a stereotype. For example, racism between cultures such as AfricanAmerican, Hispanic. And/or discrimination against the undocumented immigrants and the poor. Even if civil right was abolished long time ago everywhere you go one can see the discrimination between citizens. What about how one of the candidates for the Republican Party Trump expresses or talk about the Hispanic?  What about when one goes and applies for a job? Many care about race, sex, age and don’t even evaluate the education level.

Citizenship and Social Class

T.H Marshall

 

“It saw the first big advance in social rights, and this involved significant changes in the egalitarian principles expressed in citizenship. But there were other forces at work as well. A rise of money income unevenly distributed over the social classes altered the economic distance which separated these classes from one another, diminishing the gap between skilled and unskilled labour and between skilled labour and non-manual workers, while the steady increase in small savings blurred the class distinction between the capitalist and the property less proletarian. Secondly, a system of direct taxation, ever more steeply graduated, compressed the whole scale of disposable incomes. Thirdly, mass production for the home market and a growing interest on the part of industry in the needs and tastes of the common people enabled the less well-to-do to enjoy a material civilisation which differed less markedly in quality from that of the rich than it had ever done before. All this profoundly altered the setting in which the progress of citizenship took place. Social integration spread from the sphere of sentiment and patriotism into that of material enjoyment. The components of a civilized and cultured life, formerly the monopoly of the few, were brought progressively within reach of the many, who were encouraged thereby to stretch out their hands towards those that still eluded their grasp. The diminution of inequality strengthened the demand for its abolition, at least with regard to the essentials of social welfare”.

            The third and last element in Marshall theory is social citizenship. He explained how an influx of money limited the separation between social classes giving opportunity to the less fortune. Opportunities in the social welfare services which included things such as education and medical treatment. It formed equality that put an end to the social classes’ inequality and status formed by the capitalist. This gave every individual within a community access to social goods ending the monopoly of the rich and allowing other to come within arm’s reach.

            I choose this passage because it shows that many countries all over the world are somewhat managed within a better system. The United States can learn from other countries like London in how to treat their communities a little better. Education and medical treatment has been a large issue in the United States for years in which makes you question where does the money that is taxed go? While the United States maybe a great country it can improve in social welfare services that can limit the social classes.