Goucher College 2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
    Dec 05, 2024  
Goucher College 2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.

AMS 205 - Issues in American Studies (2 Cr.)


More than any other nation, America has envisioned itself as a place of opportunity.  With hard work, ambition, and a dash of luck, even the poorest among us can move up the ladder-or at least create the conditions for our children to move up. We know the dream is far from a reality, and yet this creed, as President Obama called it, continues to animate and shape our public discourse. Some of the obstacles to equality of opportunity are well known and well documented. In this course, we’re going to dig a little deeper and explore some of the largely invisible and surprising factors that influence upward-and downward–mobility.  We’ll look at the role zip codes, child rearing techniques, internships, and legacy admissions, among other factors, play in curtailing movement and maintaining the status quo. My hope is that even as we reflect on the constraints on mobility we will feel inspired to reclaim the dream. Spring semester. Marchand.