The Opportunity of Education

Is education the key to the American dream? I write about why I value education and how it became important to me.

By Christina C. from Royal Oak High School in Michigan

Growing up my family didn’t travel. We stayed in Michigan and on occasion visited surrounding states. In contrast, my friends went all over the world and country. During summer break they would go to Florida or California. In fifth grade my best friend went to Greece. I was so jealous that at a young age I would research other states and countries and decide which ones I would visit once I saved up enough money.

In sixth grade my friend who was also my neighbor, moved to China. And in tenth grade she invited me to visit her. It was my first time on a plane and it was thirteen hours long. I visited four cities- Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Hong Kong- in China. I also went to school with my friend for a week. The differences were immense. My friend goes to an IB school in China. She doesn’t get to choose her classes and she takes each class for two years. The school was planning a production with amazing decorations and dances. It was a school full of life and endless fun.

American creed is a statement of the defining element of american identity. To me American creed means freedom to exist in a country with endless opportunities. My parents have always told my sisters and I that school is important. I grew up with the mindset that getting an education is the key to success thus making school a priority. When I hear about about girls in Africa, Asia, and Latin America who can’t get an education, it really upsets me. How can something that I see as necessary not be available in other places? Because of this I view education as something not to be taken advantage of and as a privilege here in America. My American creed is education.

In America you have the right to get an education no matter your race, religion, or gender. I am grateful that I, as a girl can go to high school and have the opportunity to study my interests. When I grow up I want to be a successful engineer. There are not many female engineers but I am hoping I can change that.

Royal Oak High School

Miller's Thrillers

AP Lang and Comp Hour 2

The Freedom of Speech

Why the right to protest is the American Creed.

A Country of Immigrants

Through the experiences of talking to my mother, who was born and raised and Ukraine, I came to learn an important lesson on what it means to be "American".

How Being A First Generation Can Affect Views on What it Means to be an American

An examination on the similarities of how children of immigrants view their privileges and what it means to be an American.

How the American Creed is different for immigrants?

Audio interview of someone who immigrated here from Romania and their outlook on the American Creed.

Creating Understanding, One Story At a Time

Political polarization has become a huge issue in our country and by telling our own personal stories we can help to create a greater level of understanding to combat this issue.

Heroes of the American Melting Pot

My piece explores leaders who have fought back against discrimination and created opportunities for future generations of Americans.

Is there really a true "american"?

I wrote this essay with the intended goal of explaining the idea that even though America is "ideal" there is an unspoken animosity against specific communities. Prejudice and ignorance need to be addressed and conquered. If not then history will repeat itself.

My American Creed & How I Understand the American Creed

This is my story.

Have American Values Changed?

Look at the larger picture to acknowledge, through the generations, how customs and values came to be and can be tied back to the idea that America’s composed of individuals, with their own ethnicity, customs, traditions, and opinions; honoring how they have been modified.

American Individuals

How American individualism sets us apart from other nations. For better or for worse.

American Opportunity

An evaluation of the American stereotype

On Military Service & Success

Success in America can be achieved in many ways. One large foundation for success is the Military. My family has lived up to the idea of personal success through the military. Their stories speak for themselves.

A Legacy of Honor

My family has a history of serving in the military and it has engraved in me a high sense of patriotism. Each stanza in the poem is directed to a specific audience, friends and family, government, and fellow soldiers; also each photo relates in someway to each stanza.

The Value of Family

Does the amount of value you place on your family alter with the knowledge of ancestral background? For me, the two are unrelated, but I interviewed my family as well and realized it's not where you came from, it's where you're going; experiences are more meaningful than history.

What Americans Do

People tend not to realize how much their life changes overtime until it's brought up. In a society where we're told anything is possible, can our childhood dreams really come true?

What's to Be Done?

In America, there are those who are affluent and those who are not. I am just one person but I speak for many when I say I lived a less affluent life as a child, and will likely experience being impoverished again when I am older. Knowing this, I ask myself, what can be done?

America Is One

Being an American is understanding and learning from each other.

Opportunity in America

America is beginning to lose some of our founding morals and beliefs. Some of our values like opportunity or privilege are not the same as they used to be.

Diversity & Equality

Diversity and equality go hand in hand. One's culture can determine how much they are open to the issue of diversity and being different and how, other than those who are open minded, there still are people who cause conflicts due to their biases.

The Land of Opportunity

A comparison of the American Creed throughout my families history.

The Building Block of Our Nation

This piece is about our country being built on equality, but is the land of inequality. I talk about racism over and the people of our country lying about our country. My piece makes you think about our country in a different light and the realities some people face.

American Creed

In our podcast we talk about what it means to be an American and what issues matter the most to us.

American Resilience and Progress

Americans are resilient and we know that failure is never an option, and we have known this throughout the entire history of our country.

OPPORTUNITY

To me, being an American means creating your own story.

American Creed

What it means to be an American as a multiracial individual.

America, a Melting Pot?

My project, through interviews, explores the relationship between being an American and cultural background. My interview subjects are high school students with varying cultural backgrounds.

More responses from Royal Oak High School

Surprise Me

People Should Be Different

My essay is about why people should be different and why being different is not a bad thing but it's a really good thing. I also talked about how everyone should just accept people for who they are

Mental Creed

How my family and community history has affected my journey for a healthy mindset and personal growth.

Division in America

A brief look into our past as a nation, taking a look at how division between Americans is nothing new.

American Creed: Cultural tradition and immigration

Do you have many different cultural traditions that your family may have brought over to America that are very important to you? Join me in learning how cultural tradition and immigration plays a role in elements of diverse Americans' identity

How My Dad's Future Impacts My Own

I dd an interview with my father about his job and the things he loved and hated about it. It helped me think about the different jobs I want to look into further when I start searching for colleges or career paths.

Unity in America

My piece is about my observations in the world of politics, and how much more conflict there is than cooperation.

Risky Business

The story of how risk is essential for the American Dream.

American Creed-Problem in America

This is about the American dream, and what a major problem in America is.

Our American Dream

Recently in our 9th grade english class, we have been trying to find out what America means to us and how America as an idea has influenced our lives.

The Melting Pot of Family

In this piece I discuss the ideas of chosen families and blood related family in relation to the American melting pot.

Attitudes and Success in Life

This is about how a good attitude affects your successes in life.

American Creed; Educational Opportunities

The equal opportunity of furthering education is important to many. The act of making sure the path is open to all is essential to American.

More responses from Michigan

Surprise Me

American Creed

This essay is about politics and media in the United States of America.

American Division

We always say we want to be The UNITED States of America. But how true is that?

My Family of Immigrants

Look into my Family History. See my American Creed.

An American Medley (Poetry)

Composed by Mia Colony and Sydney Stephens. Poems Used: "We Leave To-Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Growing Up" by E.H. "How Would You Describe America?" is an original poem by Mia Colony and Abe Frank.

Immigration and America

I decided to craft an American Bald Eagle, since it often used to represent America. On it, I put snippets of stories from people who have immigrated to America.

American Expectations Vs. Reality

What the American creed expectations are and how everyone else should see them is way different then what it actually is.

Problems in America

America is a great country, but with problems that need to be fixed. Luckily many Americans are aware of the problems in America like police brutality, high incarceration rates, low ill-maintained education system, etc.

America from an Immigrant's Perspective

For our American Creed project, we decided to interview our parents, who are immigrants, and showcase their ideas around what it is to be American.

Positives of America

Let's talk about how tolerable America is.

Who I Really Am

A poem about my American Creed, told in the stories of my grandparents.

American Citizenship

We researched the process of naturalization through the lives of our family members and other people with similar stories.

Gen-Z

What is Gen-Z?

More responses about "education" and "opportunity"

Surprise Me

How the American Creed is different for immigrants?

Audio interview of someone who immigrated here from Romania and their outlook on the American Creed.

Opportunity; The Name of the Game

My piece is about the current mindset around opportunity in America. My goal is to point out that we should strive to create equality, but right now there is also too much to do with identifying problems without finding solutions. Change comes through action, not complaining.

Opportunities in America

Taylor F. and Ashley F. interviewed local police chief and military veterans, Brian Bowles. They were interested in learning about his unique story and the opportunities he believed he had being American.

American Creed

Education is a part of the American Creed because it helps us understand who we are and also learn about our history to become someone in the future such as Condoleezza Rice and Dierdre Prevett

American Creed

Being an American isn’t only about how you look and where you come from; it can also be about who you are on the inside and what makes you an American. Education is a big part of the American dream & allows people to succeed and improve beneficially.

American Creed

Millions of people have immigrated here and in the future millions more will try. On October 17, 1933, one man moved to the United States of America. It was just a normal day, and he was just one of hundreds of people to move here on this particular day.

American Creed

About the American Dream

How does your family connect to my American Creed.

I state how important education is to my family. I will talk about how education is the key to success.

America's Kids

Interviews with elementary school students about their thoughts on America.

My American Creed

My American Creed - To me, it's not about my bloodline. It's about my liberties, my rights, the rights I get to exercise, my government, and my choices.

Ideals in America are but luck and chance, determined by government standards.

My piece talks about the ideals of rags-to-riches and how as a country we might not be able to achieve that because of governmental standards.

Opportunity.

How your life can Instantly change for the better and make you reflect on

Generational Legacy

This is the story of how my family has made a name for themselves and set examples that many black people in America don't get.

Ignorance: Anything but Bliss

My piece is focused on how my family and the community I grew up in have shaped my American Creed. Many of my family members are immigrants and I grew up in a town where I am a minority, giving me a unique perspective concerning equal treatment for minorities.

American Dream within the American Creed

The American Dream, is implemented by the American Creed, what it means to be American.

Education

My American Creed is how everyone should be given the opportunity to education regardless of their ethnicity

My American Creed: Living with the Discussion of a "Dream," but Never Seeing it Realized

The repercussions of a teen who realizes everything she was told about America is far from the truth. Its sounds slightly dramatic, sure, but becoming more aware of the social constructs in this country continues to surprise me.

My American Creed

This slideshow I created helps me describe my American Creed. Four words that help me describe it are freedom, citizenship, culture, and education.

Problems in America

America is a great country, but with problems that need to be fixed. Luckily many Americans are aware of the problems in America like police brutality, high incarceration rates, low ill-maintained education system, etc.

American Creed

My American Creed

Proud to be American

My piece is about how we as Americans have freedom and how education and hard work leads to success.

Exploration to National Identity

My essay : Exploration to National Identity is based off 3 people from the documentary American Creed. Joe Maddon, Condoleezza Rice, and Deidre Prevett resonate about the same topic; Community, Education, and Freedom.

Education and Progress

My American Creed is based on an experience I had where I met an orphan who taught me about gratitude and progress

American Creed; Educational Opportunities

The equal opportunity of furthering education is important to many. The act of making sure the path is open to all is essential to American.

Writing Our Future: American Creed is part of the National Writing Project’s family of youth publishing projects, all gathered under the Writing Our Future initiative.

Writing Our Future projects are designed by educators for educators and the young people they work with. Intended for use in schools, libraries, and other educational settings. All projects are COPPA compliant and educator-managed. NWP is committed to supporting young people’s writing and civic participation by providing a safe and supportive environment for youth writing, media creation, sharing, and publishing.