Dialectical Journal #1

       I.             A Fire in the Basement

    II.            Herbert, Bob. “A Fire in the Basement.” They Say I Say. Eds. Birkenstein, Cathy, Russel Durst, and Gerald Graff. New York:  New York/ London, 2009. 394-403. Print.

 III.            The article “A Fire in the Basement” is about problems in the United States and how we fail to take action in correcting the problems that not only occur but the ones we create ourselves as a nation.

 IV.            “When a nation goes down or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what brought them along.” – Carl Sandburg (qtd. in They Say I Say 399).

“During the Great Depression we did not close schools… We didn’t even close schools during World War II” –High School Physics teacher (qtd. in They Say I Say 396).

    V.            I chose this quote due to that fact that it has a lot to do with our lives in the United States today. We as citizens of this once great nation have failed to see that that we are now making the same exact mistakes as those that came before us; our leaders have forgotten their roots and have not learned from our nation’s history on how to rightfully fix the problems at hand.
          
            In addition, the complications facing the United States are those that daunted us during the Vietnam War. The riches of a nation are now turned to rags for a war with no end in sight. Furthermore, our nation’s leaders seem to think that they do not have to follow the “great American ideals of freedom, justice, equality, and opportunity” (Herbert 397).

This quote about closing schools in the United States as a result of budget cuts in the educational system because of war. In the past that never happened because the United States believed in its youth and that one day they will be able to handle hardships with a positive mind and good intentions. Instead of sending more troops to fight in a war with no purpose bring some of them home and with the money saved keep the schools opened. When you take away from a child education you might as well get ready send them to jail.

You are not allowing them to enlighten themselves and grow as a person, yet you think it well for them to live in a life of ignorance and despair. Then in the United States people always wonder why we have so many criminals when the reason is simple all along.