Rachel Li

11/30/16

America -- The Greatest Country

English 2H

America is often depicted as the land of opportunity, where dreams become

reality, and the sky's the limit. However, on the opposite spectrum, racial discrimination,

unfair pay between men and women, and pollution and environmental problems prevail.

Racial discrimination has afflicted the nation for centuries and has left America with

undeniable scars in history. Additionally, unfair pay wages between males and females

has created an economic divide in the country. Lastly, environmental crises have placed a

negative look on the morality of America as a nation. Clearly, it is hard to believe that

America can claim the title of being the greatest country.

Racial discrimination has been prevalent in the United States of America for

centuries. The unequal treatment towards people of different races and minorities have

been expressed through events relating to police brutality, harassment, and unfair

employment, statistics claim that a, ... black name resume is 50 percent less likely to get

responded than a white name resume (Ross). Copious individuals have fought for years

to bring justice and equality to America, but with overpowering supremacy in the

government, the goal becomes truly impossible. Sadly, America knows that this problem

exists, but fails to acknowledge it because of the complexity of the issue. On the contrary,

the act in mending a problem is to face it directly, First step in solving any problem is
realizing that there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore

(Newsroom 7). In accordance, if we fail to recognize issues that are plaguing our nation,

history will repeat itself once again.

Today, companies feel justified paying female employees less wages for the same

work as a male counterpart. The origin to this dates back to when men were considered

the sole provider of a family and the wifes duty was to stay home. As time went by and

women became educated and had professions of high degrees, they received a

significantly lower wage than men, despite the fact that they were doing the same work.

Not too long ago, In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar

earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent (Pay Equity and Discrimination 1).

Correspondingly, companies feel they can get away with their biased behavior. Moreover,

a majority of females are afraid to ask for a raise in fear of rejection. It has become

palpable that America fails to recognize the wage gap as a serious problem, for there has

not been any impactful progression for a significant amount of years. To bolster this,

society has brainwashed people into thinking that the wage gap isnt a problem, that

women are less superior to men, making it apt that they receive a lower salary. In theory,

...women have to work approximately 60 extra days, or about three months, to earn what

men did by the end of the previous year (Patten 3). Realistically, there are positions in

which a woman is the sole provider of the family. In this case, America fails to take into

consideration that it is fair that men and women receive equal pay for their work. The fact

that women have fought for centuries for natural rights shows that America isnt ready for

change.
 Countless Americans take the planet that we live on for granted and dont realize

that environmental issues should be just as important as political and social injustices.

Take into consideration that when our biomes are polluted, it dents the health and well

being of the animals and plants in the wild. What humans have become blind to is the fact

that we as individuals are affected as well. Having this said, it becomes quite perplexing

to know that America (being aware of these issues) makes near to no efforts to purify the

very land that we live on. Scientific data comes to show that, Eighty percent of pollution

to the marine environment comes from the land. (NOAA 1). Evidently, it becomes clear

to environmental researchers that the plastic waste is coming from factories and careless

actions of people, Many people dont consider that what they do will affect future

generations. If humans continue moving forward in such a harmful way towards the

future, then there will be no future to consider (Rinkesh 19). These words make it clear

that many people dont care to wonder where their pollution ends up and how it will

negatively affect the environment. Unless America chooses to address the environmental

crises head-on, these problems will only continue to exacerbate and evidently make the

country more vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters such as climate change.

Another example of this is shown in acts such as deforestation and pipeline construction.

Though this practice benefits the commonwealth in terms of land and energy

independence, the results are far more devastating- depleting natural land, clean air and

clean water, extinguishing a broad range of animals and plants, and in some cases, taking

away homes and safety of natives.

Undoubtedly, America has become a hypocritical society. Resulting from the fact

that we say one thing and do the other, what comes out of our mouths, differs from our
actions. We as a nation have resources to education and workforces that can correct our

mistakes. Failing to acknowledge and solve these problems plaguing our nation will

result in history repeating itself. America needs to realize that future generations have

suffered and have paid consequences for change, but it has become adherent that no

progression has become of it.

Works Cited:

"Do Job-seekers with 'white' Names Get More Callbacks than 'black' Names?"

@politifact. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

"Pay Equity & Discrimination." IWPR. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

Patten, Eileen. "On Equal Pay Day, Key Facts about the Gender Pay Gap."Pew Research

Center RSS. N.p., 14 Apr. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

"What Is the Biggest Source of Pollution in the Ocean?" US Department of Commerce,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

"20 Facts About Ocean Pollution - Conserve Energy Future." Conserve Energy Future.
N.p., 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.