"The American Scholar"

Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about American society still holds true today.

One reason Emerson's argument still holds true today is people are getting more and more specfic with their jobs. Instead of doctors we have allergy, sports medicine, vascular doctors, and many more. We don't have teachers, we have Geometry teachers and Biology teachers. Emerson points out, "the mechanic a machine; the sailor a rope of the ship". By this he is saying that society is so broken up from a whole, people are no longer "thinkers". Instead of looking at the big picture people are so focused on whatever they specialize in they no longer can form oppinions of their own and just rely on what others say about anything outside of their personal field. For example, Ben Franklin. Probablly one of the smartest men to ever walk the earth, yet half of his talent is no longer recognized. Aside from being a scientist he was also a politician, inventor, statesmen, economist, printer, and musician. These days it would be extremely rare to find anyone this multi talented because once someone finds something they are good at, it is all they focus on and never think of trying something different.

Today, Emerson's ideas still hold true because our society depends so highly on the assembly line. Everyday countless amounts of people wake up, drive to work at Ford Motor Company, and place the same part on car after car as they did the day before. They never look outside of their own little world to think of something bigger. Like Emerson says, "the parrot of other men's thinking" refers to how after doing the same thing over and over you get to be just a mere thinker. Yours thoughts are repetitive and no longer your own.