Was it worth it?

Dacnarie: Hey! It's Dacnarie and Loretta and we are going to talk about one of our past essential questions. The question is "Why do people come to America?" I think people came to America because they wanted a "better life" and they thought that they could get that in America. What do you think Loretta?

Loretta: I agree with you, Dacnarie. People came to America because of the pull factors that America had. For example, many may have came to America because of all the rumors of America being the the "Golden Land". Another pull factor was, like Dacnarie said, they thought they would've gotten a better life as in better education, work, and more. In addition to the pull factors, there were push factors. Immigrants might have wanted to escape from their countries because of persecution, proverty, or maybe it was harder to earn money. While we were studying this question we also studied the question "Was it worth it for them and for us?" in this unit. What do you think Dacnarie?

Dacnarie: Well, Loretta I think it was worth it for us but not worth it for them. It was worth it for us because we (America) learned a lot from our past. Like, to not put kids in sweatshops and to not torture immigrants. It wasn't worth it for them because they had to deal with being judged and tortured. They also had to live in small tenements and work for more then 10 hours but they earned almost no money. But at the same time their hometowns must have been way worse so I guess it was worth it for some people. What do you think Loretta?

Loretta: I think that also Dacnarie. My reason is like yours but a bit different. It was good for America because it created diversity in the country and it helped America grow. But I think that while it might have been better in some ways in America than the immigrants hometown, like you said, it still must've been hard to assimalite in America. In addition to that they had to face segregation. Any additional comments Dacnarie?

Dacnarie: Yeah, I want to say a couple of thing about segregation. Segregation wasn't a very good thing at the time. They would seperate people by color and race. This brings me back to what you and I were saying about making America a better place. It showed America that segregation of race isn't good at all. Wouldn't you agree?

Loretta: Yes I do. This helped me grow as a person because I learned in this unit how people came to America putting all their hope on a better life. I learned how they risked it and tried to get through the hardships of coming to America and being in America. I can think of people before and see how much they have been through and how they survived by looking on the positive side. I will also try and get through my own problems this way.

Dacnarie: I agree with you. This unit also showed me how brave and strong one person can really be. When I think about what the immigrants have been through and how they went through it, it makes me think that my problem is nothing and that I can go through them just like the immigrants did.

D&L: Dacnarie and Loretta signing out!