The Roaring 20's

The 20’s to me was very interesting to learn about. I think because there was a drastic change in our American culture. People started to have much more money than before, different styles came into play, and just overall it was a good time for the economy. It’s crazy to think that The Great Depression hit shortly after this time. That just showed how much of a bubble our country was living in at the moment. Overall, the country started to become more of a consumer society. Instead of everyone having a farm in their backyard, they would simply buy product just like we do to this day. That also meant that there were going to be more cities than farms in the area.

One thing that I particularly like about this time was that not only were women allowed to vote, but they were also able to get jobs right alongside men. Our society was slowly becoming better in that aspect and I love hearing good news like that throughout history. That wasn’t even the only big change that was happening. Everyone was starting to do similar things. It was almost like this was the time that there were such things as “fads”. Before this time this would be immoral. They wouldn’t just do that same things but they would spend their money on the same things. Including spending their money on radios. Yes, this was when radios started to become popular. There wasn’t a ton of channels at the time but quickly, many came after the first one. That wasn’t the only entertainment that was becoming more popular. Most people started to go to the movie theater at least once a week! That to me, is a lot. But the movie were coming out faster so I could see why they went there so much. So, money was no issue during the 20’s. The first car was already invented before but not many people purchased them at first because one, they didn’t have enough money, and two, it just wasn’t popular yet. Well, that was before the 20’s. The Model T which was one of the early cars started to be on the roads more than ever before. The economy also was helping businesses as well.

If you saw the movie The Great Gatsby or even read the book, you would notice that it took place in the 20’s. You would also notice that alcohol was popular during that time. But that was the “in” thing because it was when the 18^th Amendment was fading. The 18^th Amendment prohibited the transportation, selling, and making of alcohol. How did they get it then you ask? Well everyone can find a way to get something that they really want. In this case, there were underground taverns and people just basically smuggled alcohol. There is always a way for people to find a way around the laws that the government makes.

So, the 20’s seemed like a comfortable time for Americans and they didn’t have to worry about much. Sadly, The Great Depression hit shortly after and wiped out the good economy of our country. We are even in a depression right now. Do you see everyone becoming easily wealthy? No. There’s tons and tons of taxes being made on everything and the government is even taking from everyone’s income which is fairly their money to pocket. But that is not the case.

Education also changed during this time. It wasn’t always like the way you see schools today. Prussia was actually the first nation to introduce the way of education where the government can put their foot into it. The United States decided to pick up that way of education and that is where it all started to lead up to how it is today. The government thought that if they were going to make their country better they needed a better education system. It was supposedly for the people, but really, it was all to help the government themselves. It’s basically like another way that the government can make money. This was also when education became mandatory. Before this time, if the family didn’t have enough money, they couldn’t put their kids in school. But now it started to be like it is to this day.

Darwinism was also started to get introduced to the school system. This type of learning originally came from Charles Darwin. So, Darwinism introduced evolution. To explain it in simpler terms, it taught how we possibly came from another species. That species that I’m talking about is monkeys. Even when some people agreed with this theory and thought it was a good idea, the government started to ban the teachings of it in the school system. This was because it was against the idea of how we got created by the Christianity beliefs. This led to the Scopes Monkey Trial. There was a man named John Scopes who was accused of teaching Darwinism in the schools. Although he wasn’t completely aware that he was teaching evolution specifically. In the end, it was decided that he was guilty and therefore fined. I personally think that it wasn’t a bad idea to teach people this theory. Even to children too. Why do I think that? Well I believe that everyone should see the options that they have to decide on what they personally believe in. Maybe someone right across from you in a restaurant believes that we were created by God, but you believe that we evolved from monkeys. But isn’t that what makes up our country? We are allowed to believe in different things and NOT be judged upon it. I don’t personally believe in a specific religion. But that doesn’t mean that I am going to totally block out any ways of hearing or learning about them. I think it is a good idea for everyone to learn about all the different types of religion because it is what makes up all the different international governments. The theory of evolution can be questioned because there isn’t that much information to back it up, but that doesn’t mean that we should restrain people from believing in it. Look at the theory for believing that God created the earth. That can be questioned as well since there isn’t that much facts behind it. Overall, we should not stop people from believing in something that they passionately believe in.