Is the American Dream Attainable Anymore?

Everyone that grew up in America has heard of the American dream: start from the bottom and work to the top. The best way to say it is by the novels that Horatio Alger published during the Gilded Age. During the Gilded age, it seemed completely acceptable to work hard and you will be rewarded for it, but is this idea still valid in today's society with social disparity and current economics? Can someone be very poor but be socially mobile in climbing the economic ladder to the top? I believe so. American education has attained a greater amount than we ever did, and we are making sure that everyone is able to fully allocate these resources, but there are some educational opportunities that are greater for the rich but nonetheless, what really matters is how diligent we are.

 

The American people have always grasped their choices and ideas around money. Here in the United States, money is what makes the world go 'round (to be cliché). We envy the rich and look down upon the poor and feel we need to help bring them out of poverty. This idea has constantly been burdened upon America: how good you are is dependent on how much money you make; however, this is also America, where the American dream can be conquered. We hear about these victories every year. From Steve Jobs and his Apple Empire to Oprah and her strive to work to the top; there are many examples of how the American dream can be achieved. Nowadays, it seems that the American Dream is slimming for children who are less fortunate than others. In Sean F. Reardon's article No Rich Child Left Behind, he writes, "the rich perform better in school than children from middle-class or poor families" (Source A). In Reardon's article, he also writes, "large national studies conducted between 1960 and 2010, I found that the rich-poor gap in test scores is about 40 percent larger now than it was 30 years ago." Others agree with this statement such as the author of Social Mobility in America: Repairing the Rungs when he/she writes, "One study suggests that the gap in test scores between the children of America's richest 10% and its poorest has risen by 30-40% over the past 25 years" (Source B). This can't be a coincidence if this has been the trend for decades. The rich have more resources than the poor and can use them in helping their children to become intelligent and prepared for the real world. Figure three from Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations shows us that most Americans stay in the social class that they were born in (Source F). Lastly, "The Great Gatsby Curve" by Paul Krugman shows us that the United States is very inelastic when it comes to social mobility (Source G). All of this reliable information does prove a correlation between the success of the American dream and the social disparity that disconnects us from social mobility.

 

Even though facts suggest that social mobility is difficult at this time, many optimists suggest that diligence is what we need. Sara Rimer interviews Nicole Done in her article Gatsby's Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers and Nicole states, "For me the American dream is working hard for something you want" (Source C). Nicole's inspiring quote is something that Americans hold true to what was said by Americans during the Gilded Age. It was the "Horatio Alger" way, and if you worked hard, it would be cruel to get nothing in return. A famous quote by Samuel Goldwyn is "The harder I work, the luckier I get." Whether or not you believe in luck, this quote seems to hold true. An example would be studying for exams. If you work hard and study for exams, the more likely, or lucky, you are to succeed. Another person who believes in this mentality is Yasmina Shaush. In the article This I Believe: The American Dream Lives On, it entails, "The true beauty of America lies not in its fruited plains or purple mountain majesties, but in the determination of the people" (Source D). The American dream is made by the people that want to achieve it. The diligent people are destined for success. Figure one from Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations entices us that 84% of children exceed their family's income (Source F).

 

There is one point that has come to my attention after engulfing in the midst of this topic. When reading about income, it was all determined from your choice in a career. Most people strive for the job that generates the most income; however, many people choose the job they find most appealing. This idea of "falling back" is well stated in the article Economic Mobility Is Determined by Personal Choice, which reads, "If Warren Buffett’s son opts to become a priest and take a vow of poverty, that might say wonderful things about his son, but it says nothing about economic mobility" (Source E). With this in mind, the job that these people choose might not be the job with the highest salary, or even a slightly lower salary. This could skew data that has been brought to the table about how social mobility seems inelastic. It has also occurred to me that after watching People Like Us, many people like being around people that are in their same social class, and this could result in people choosing jobs that could generate a certain level of income that's identical to others in that social class.

 

It is a difficult dilemma that we are stuck with. There are many ideas that support the idea of social mobility being inelastic and the American dream becoming less attainable to those that are less fortunate than others. On the other hand, there are many outliers that haven’t been included in data that could skew information and void data. I believe that what it comes down to is diligence. Anyone can go and be that nobody that turns into somebody if they're diligent and ready for the road that lies ahead.

View From the Bourgeois Vous (Upper-Middle Class)

After taking the Christian Science Monitor quiz, it has come to my attention that I am coined as an Upper-Middle Class American, in which I cannot deny. I see myself as more in the “middle” middle-class, but now that I am reflecting more on my life I can see how I am in the upper-middle class. Money has never been an extreme issue and I’ve been able to get almost everything that I’ve asked for without hesitation (besides video games that have been rated as mature). Looking more in depth on the quiz itself, I think the questions asked were pretty valid towards determining your social status; however, they never considered education. In my opinion, education is extremely important because the poor are seen as uneducated; therefore, timid to people that have the opportunity to get an education. I also wish the class didn’t ask about how much money you have left over after your expenditures because I don’t keep track of all the money that I spend and have left over. Other than that I have no complaints about the quiz and I feel it was very accurate in determining my social class.

Over the past couple days, we’ve been reading about social class and what others see on this issue. In the article Shadowy Lines That Still Divide it reads, “At a time when education matters more than ever, success in school remains linked tightly to class.” I believe this statement is true because most of the wealthy Americans have an outstanding education. Also, in order to fulfill the requirements of a highly regarded and well paid job, you need to have an education that aids you in performing the requirements. In the article Money Always Talks, it spoke about how the less fortunate feel uncomfortable around wealthier social classes. I can relate because, being an upper-middle class American, I have found myself surrounded by wealthy people in an area known as Maple Bluff. I felt I couldn’t engage in conversation with these people because they were talking about topics that I couldn’t relate to. The topics of conversation were about eating at the country club and about where they have travelled to. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to travel to many places or dine at a superb country club. It made me feel shy and nervous. I just wanted to leave and talk with people who could relate to me.

This leads me to an interesting point, social classes engage with their same social classes. In the excerpt of the documentary People Like Us that we were watching, it was talking about only WASP’s could be around other WASP’s, and any outsiders would be dismissed immediately. In my own experience, this is the same way. Being an athlete, I tend to hang around with other athletes. If a non-athlete approached as and tried talking about the same topics that we were discussing, we gave him a very perplexing look because it seemed that he didn’t have any credentials because he wasn’t an athlete. This is just like a regular person trying to jump into a WASP group and make casual conversation.

In our society nowadays, there are many stereotypes that split social classes and make others feel lesser than the wealthy, but one goal is everyone’s mind, rich or poor, and that goal is to be the best you can be (from excerpt of movie). This ideal makes our society strong and you can belong to any social class. As long as our society holds this ideal, I feel that our country will only continue to improve with stereotypes and social disparity.