The American Dream

The subject of the American dream is one of constant discussion, with a possible equal half and half of support and opposition of it still existing today. What is the American Dream? It’s a national ethos that many U.S. citizens believe in, that it means anyone can achieve success.

Wikipedia explains the American Dream as:

“The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity, and Equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers”

Be it as it may whatever position you carry on Wikipedia, this statement still opens the floor to discussion on the subject.

Is this dream still realistic today or has it died? The American dream, realistically, is dead.

Let’s look at some facts for this statement made. On impoverishment, a study in 2012 shown 46.5 million of our 318.9 million live in poverty. However this study was in 2012 and we have seen a growth in impoverishment in recent years, especially with the decrease of the middle class. If the American dream was still alive the ability to get out of poverty wouldn’t be an issue, yet it is. People still, despite the facts given, argue that people are impoverished because they’re lazy, this is nothing more than an absurd lie. A new study mentioned by Brigham Young University says:

“But a new study by sociologists at BYU, Cornell and LSU provides a rigorous new estimate. Their work suggests about 10 percent of working households are poor. Additionally, households led by women, minorities or individuals with low education are more likely to be poor, but employed.”

If so many are working why is it so hard to achieve the American dream? With that said it would not be logical to continue without mentioning around 44% of homeless individuals are also employed, yet still homeless. Not many people seem to understand poverty is not something that is easy to get out of, especially when individuals get stuck with low paying jobs it makes it worse.

Let’s move on to education. Our education is good, yes, however we still have issues, mainly the fact that we are working with an outdated model of education that is similar to a factory production line. Ken Robinson at the RSA explained that we have a system that is “modeled on the interests of industrialism, and in the image of it”. A summarization of his explanation, that we have a system that takes our modern day children, who are raised in a time of technological advancement, and put them behind a desk looking toward a board with little to no movement or team cooperation. They move to separate facilities and subjects signaled by ringing bells, plus we still educate children in batches based on age group, of course this system of education is outdated for today’s time, and because of this it is more clear to see why so many fail in education. If an individual fails education they cannot succeed to obtaining a job needed in succeeding in life thus not being able to achieve the American Dream. Let’s look at a few facts about our population’s education. Illiteracy in America is a big issue, 50% of adults in the U.S. read so poorly they can’t do simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels. Illiteracy is not the only issue we have as a society, a poll discovered 1 in 4 Americans still believe the earth is flat. Our education may be more advanced than other nations, however we still have major issues that can hinder one’s ability to achieve the American Dream.

Opportunity is not equal for everyone, today 40% of African Americans won’t be called back based on their name sounding African American. The National Bureau of Economic Research says “Despite laws against discrimination, affirmative action, a degree of employer enlightenment, and the desire by some businesses to enhance profits by hiring those most qualified regardless of race, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed and they earn nearly 25 percent less when they are employed.” They continue “It indicates that a white name yields as many more callbacks as an additional eight years of experience. Race, the authors add, also affects the reward to having a better resume. Whites with higher quality resumes received 30 percent more callbacks than whites with lower quality resumes. But the positive impact of a better resume for those with Africa-American names was much smaller.”

With this in mind of course this also has a dramatic effect on Equality, for if it’s obvious that there is racial discrimination among a workplace, it’s in our own society and government as well.

The American Dream is exactly what it is, a dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it. Realistically, for our society, the American Dream died shortly after it started.