Traditional American Values and Beliefs Maryanne Kearny, Joann Crandall, and Edward N. Kearny write about traditional American values and beliefs in their book the American Ways. They mention the diversity in the United State, and how the early American recognized this variety of cultures as a fact of life. Furthermore, they explain how the American values attract immigrants from different country to immigrate into the North American Continent. However, the most significant issues from the book that I would like to discuss the meaning of the freedom in the American concept, equality of opportunity and competition, and the relation between the American values and their dream. In my opinion, they connected to each other. The first significant issue is about the meaning of the freedom in the American concept. The writers indicate that the relationship between freedom and self-reliance when they wrote “if they rely too much on the support of their families or the government or any organization, they may lose some of their freedom to do what they want”. I agree with them, the person who wants to be free from the other control should be live as independent. Freedom considered the core of the American life, because it motivates them to work hard to live as self-reliant. Thus, the majority of the Americans believe that the families have a responsibility for taking care of their children until specific time. After that, they responsible about themselves. Also, the schools teach the children how to live as independent via the hidden curriculum, which includes some activities, assists the children to build their personality in the future. Eventually, the freedom certainly motivated the American people to live in race and competition with the other to achieve their dreams.

The second significant issue is equality of opportunity and competition. The writers mention that the Americans look on equality as ethical rules to ensure that all people have the equal chance of success in the race of the life. I agree with them, the equality in the older European society, for example, is hard to find. In contrast, the older Americans had been living in an equal society. When the Americans prevented the titles of nobility and development of aristocracy in their constitution. A lot of immigrants around the world immigrate to the United States, in order, to start a new life. So the equality of opportunity affects their life in some way. Furthermore, the majority of Americans believe that the success in the race stems from the equality of competition. Today, more than ever the equality of opportunity and competition has a big impact on Americans life, because they have some economic issues. For example, the President Abraham Lincoln expressed this belief when he said: “We… wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else ….”. However, the freedom and the equality of competition motivate the Americans to achieve their dream in equal opportunities.

The third significant issue is the relation between the American values and the Americans dream. The authors mention that, the decline of the economy could not related to the Americans dream, because the Americans believe if they