The American Dream

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The American Dream

American dream is one issue that every American especially political elite talk about and is included almost in every book. Even though the idea of American Dream persuades and motivates development and growth, it has recently become impractical and unattainable. Unfortunately, most of the Americans still strongly believe that this preposterous ambition can be achieved. Achieving American dream undoubtedly depend on an individual’s own definition of the dream thus causing many varieties to choose from. John Winthrop visualized a religious paradise in a “City upon a Hill” while Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of racial equality. Both men supported their arguments perfectly hence making scholars to separately view the varying perception for American dream. Attainment of this dream however is still in doubt (Stigliz n.p).

Initially, American excellence was thought as possessing property and having enough money to be able to provide for their family basic needs. In fact, most citizens wanted to get wealthy and prominent as it is these days. Currently, American dream has changed into insatiable materialism that has made most Americans think of how to be millionaires and own yacht and perhaps private jet. Few Americans are millionaires compared to the entire American population. However, most Americans still believe that this dream is achievable and that they will join the millionaires club sooner or later. Belief by a good number of people that it is possible to move from rags to riches is unrealistic because the modern day wealth is almost not viable to reach (Davos n.p).

The thought of American Dream has had very hopeful influence on the American people as every person believes that at least one day, they will earn enough money, having freedom and riding in high social circles. Just like some other Americans are positive about the achievement of the American excellence, so is the belief by people from other countries. Most foreigners have travelled to America to get at least a fraction of opportunity in America. However, I believe that American dream is just a deceptive hope that will never be attained. This article explains the difficulties of achieving the dream especially among the less privileged individuals who literally start from nothing. Even when you try to save money or work extra hard, achieving excellence in the American dream is absolutely impossible (Stiglitz Web).

Although Americans’ economy is growing and the wealth increases, many individuals think that it is easy to achieve excellence by achieving it through hard work and diligence. It leaves a lot of questions still on what the American dream is. Is it possible for a housekeeper and a waitress in a diner to succeed in achieving the so called American Dream? Even if someone has a bit of head start to start some business, the beginning of the individual is actually very important in obtaining American Dream. Some people may work double shifts just to earn enough money but still their needs are not fully satisfied. Generally what is important is the chance and where someone starts from (Lawyers’ Committee Web).

It is not justified to say that American Excellence is still obtainable yet some people rent hotels so that they can sleep and shower in them due to inability to afford homes. It is so obvious that this dream is not achievable unless I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt. In fact, hard work does not reward as it is initially thought and therefore it is not key in obtaining the American Dream.  People wake up in the morning to work very hard yet they are no better off than before thus proving that no matter how hard an individual works the person cannot just succeed. It is clear that American Dream is just an illusion that cannot be attained and therefore should not be in any one’s future. People should not cling to hope that will never come to pass because the track record shows that only few individuals can make it from rags to riches (Lawyers’ Committee Web).

Fairness however is not considered as an important issue in the society as it is regarded more as a dream than a reality in America. Although the leadership of U.S constantly talks about equality issue, nothing so far has ever happened. The gap between the rich and the poor is still unreasonable as much as there is rise in middle class individuals. US still lag behind compared to the past and other European countries. Inequality in education plays a crucial role in broadening disparity gap yet education helps in realizing American dream. Although most people have thought about America as land of opportunities, nothing much is in America and this makes the belief tragic due to the near universal consensus that inequality of opportunity is indefensible. May be in the past, US may qualify to be the land of opportunities more than any other country. Very few Americans born in the bottom fifth move into the top because the economic mobility in America lowers than most of the European countries.

Opportunity in education attainment is hindered because the child’s quality education is still dependant on the amount of income of their parents. The achievements of American dream depend richly in income and education of the population than in European and Scandinavian countries. The inequality in education has been largely contributed by persistent discrimination of the Latinos and African Americans who still get less pay compared to their male counterparts. Men also get better pay compared to their female counterparts due to gender disparities in the workplace. Interestingly, someone’s level of degree or education is not regarded as important as it should be. Racism and gender biasness dominates every other vital factor. Additionally, quality and quantity of education has also contributed to the unfairness in education thus deterring the a.............