EPT Essay
I strongly disagree with Mead's argument because for my inner circle and her argument isn't true. When someone in my inner circle does good in something I am happy for them and proud of them. I think that Mead is just someone who is jealous and doesn't really have the right friends surrounding her. I think that could be a factor in her negative view.
Margaret Mead says, "For many Americans, the concept of success is a source of confusion." I disagree with her because everyone has a different idea of success. One person might think of success as earning their masters degree. Another person might think of success as earning their high school diploma. Different people have different standards, goals, and views of success. Therefore the concept of success is not a source of confusion because everybody has their own idea of success.
Although I may not agree with her thought that success is a source of confusion, I do agree that Americans greatly prize success. In America you are forced to go to school for years just to get a high school diploma. Receiving your high school diploma is considered being successful. After that people in America want you to go on to college and get your degree. The higher the degree the more you are considered successful. Americans clearly prize success because they want you to go through years of schooling just to be considered successful. I feel that degrees do not matter and do not measure your level of success and how smart you are. Many people that are successful just have their high school diploma and sometimes not even that.
I think that Margaret is saying that we are happy for the successful people that have nothing to do with ourselves. I agree with this thought. She is saying when someone in our profession does something better than us we aren't happy for them. I think that its just natural for humans to do that because we are naturally jealous. That is why I somewhat agree with Mead's argument but some parts I don't agree with.
