Education and Community

“While we are a melting pot, we can’t forget where we’ve come from and we all need to learn about each others’ history” (Deidre Prevett). It is vital that we remember where we came from, to know what our families and the generations before had to overcome to get us into the position we are right now. It is also just as important to know about others' struggles, how they relate to us and how we can be united as a community. Tied with that, having an education is just as important. Education helps us move forward in life, it helps us have a better future. Deidre Prevett, Condoleezza Rice, and Eric Liu all believe that education and community are an essential part of the American Creed.

In the documentary, we meet Deidre Prevett, a creek-indian, elementary school principal. She is “living [her] American dream. That’s to be an educator.” (Source D) Her family has been educators for generations, able to pay for it because of their land having oil. Because of this luck she calls it, she wants to be able to pay it forward. She wants to help the community of indigenous people who weren’t as lucky as her family, who didn’t have the money they had to be able to pay for a good education. To do this, she became a principal, doing her best to teach the newer generations the importance of education. She believes that “education is the key to success and to better yourself” (Source D), which is why she also chose to follow in her family’s footsteps of being educators. For Deidre Prevett, the American Creed is education and community, paying it forward.

“You can be and do anything you want, you just can’t leave others behind” (Source A). Condoleezza Rice, an African-American professor at Stanford, her view on the American Creed is a bit different from Deidre Prevett but fundamentally the same. Condoleezza Rice’s ideas are also about education. Because her grandfather got an education, which changed her family’s life, she saw education as a path for self improvement. She excelled in school and became a political science professor at Stanford. She started a ‘club’ where first generation students could talk with each other and build a sense of community between them, showing how important community was to Condoleezza Rice, especially because being a first generation student can be very challenging.

“I had the good fortune to be born American” (Source F). An asian-American, second generation man, a public servant for the government. His parents came to America in the 50s and got their education here. He was born afterwards living his American Dream because of it. When he grew up, he started Citizens University, a non-profit organization, one that helps build a culture of powerful, responsible citizenship. “There’s another set of things that Citizens University does that are much more about the culture. Because we have a great diversity in American life you have to ask yourself, ‘What is it that holds us together?’ And what holds us together is a creed … it is truly a civic religion” (Source F). Eric Liu makes a community in Citizens University, he makes it so that these people learn what the civic culture is. They are educated by professionals much like a real university. They are able to make bonds with those around them who are facing the same circumstances.

These various sources are examples of how diverse Americans view the American Creed. Each one has a story of the people before them. How they formed their American Creed. Because of this, Deidre Prevett, Condoleezza Rice, and Eric Liu all believe that education and community is the American Creed.