Is The American Dream Still Achievable

America was once able to provide everyone with achieving the American Dream, but that seems to no longer exist. America has evolved in both good and bad ways, but this is a prime example of a bad way because the American Dream has faded away from the people. There are many obstacles in the way of the Dream and additionally more will be created throughout the future. Although, there are many reasons as to why this is, the central idea is that America does not provide access to the American Dream because of difficulty in gaining an education, low mobility, and racial inequality.

One of the many reasons for the American Dream downfall is people having difficulty in gaining an education. This struggle is not just affecting adults,but it starts as early as with children. In other words, Susan B. Neuman in “The American Dream: Slipping Away” was able to identify these difficulties in her ten year study of neighborhoods in Philadelphia by stating, “They often find themselves working with materials that are too difficult for them to read[…] struggle to develop fluency reading further draining their capacity for comprehending texts.” (Source 4) This is important to realize that it goes to show even young people are having to deal with struggles in education and more likely it will double the chances of future generations having the same factor in not being able to succeed the American Dream. This is also essential since children are supposed to learn literacy through experiences and observations in everyday life which should help them achieve their goals but cannot in this case because it is becoming too difficult. In addition Neuman also provided another reason as to why children were not gaining a good education when saying, “Schools in poor areas struggle for many reasons[…]most prominent are their rotating faculty of inexperienced teachers & administrators & their low-level curriculum.”(Neuman) As a result this gives out the disadvantages the poor have rather than the wealthy in which they would not gain equal education. For the children already having this unequal education with challenges, it paints a big picture as to why the American Dream is now unrealistic to many.

Low mobility also has a huge impact in why the American Dream is not as accessible. America is known to have less economic mobility than other countries, this subject is not new or a secret. For instance Jason De Perle in “Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs” gives valid reason as to why the mobility gap is so low when he states, “One reason for the mobility gap may be the depth of American poverty, which leaves poor children starting especially far behind.”(Source 2) In this case it suggests that since, American poverty is super big or common, that could be one of the sources for the low mobility. This is also essential since, it says future generations born into poverty would have trouble rising to another class level. This is what America needs to put more focus on to change itself if they want to see more people succeeding. In addition De Perle was able to conclude that conservatives thought America’s mobility was the opposite of low when stating,” Conservatives have argued that the system is fair because mobility is especially high, too: everyone can climb the ladder.” (De Perle) This must be remembered now that evidence was found that America is less mobile and equal, there was no way people could deny that. This is also essential since it displays that some people do not want the low mobility to change for their own benefits, in which it will not help other Americans at all from coming out of this stump. There will not be any changes in the low mobility if they do not start thinking of America as a whole which shows more reason to why the Dream is not achievable.

Lastly another factor that contributes to the American Dream fading away, is racial inequality. Race does play a great part in Americans trying to achieve the Dream because so many opportunities have been taken away from them just because of their skin color. In fact Lori Latrice Sykes in “Crashing in on the American Dream: Racial Differences in Housing Values” provides information in which different races were not offered the same opportunities as whites when she states, “Discrimination in mortgage lending and at other stages in home buying process has lead to lower rates of home ownership among non-whites.” That brings to light that obviously one of the items in the American Dream is buying a home and non-whites were denied that, and there were lower rates because of their race. This is also essential since historically African Americans and other races have always been left out buying homes. It is ridiculous to deny them of trying to own a home just because of their race when the Declaration of Independence tells us that we are all equal and have our own rights. For instance Thomas Jefferson in the “Declaration of Independence” provides one of the most inspirational words to Americans when he states,”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” This resonates with the topic since many Americans live by this or in some ways worship it, so you would think that they would treat people all the same but in fact that is not the case which is saddening. This is also essential since the document is supposed to explain who America is, but the people fail to want to see each other prosper and achieve the American Dream because of race.

While, there may be some that believe in certain cases that people are able to rise from rags to riches despite race, income, education, and other factors. Chris Gardner is an example of someone who achieved the American Dream from rags to riches. As evidenced by the 2006 Sony Picture Film Will Smith stars in, Chris became extremely poor while trying to work a stockbroker internship and take care of his son. They once had to sleep in an underground subway bathroom because there was no more room in the homeless shelters and they had very little money. Gardner managed to get picked for the job after the internship was over and his lifestyle was changed forever. Their argument is invalid as this cannot happen to everyone, it seems like almost luck. They might say that hard work was put in yes, but everyone puts in their hardest work and it does not always get them what they want. This ideal is unrealistic for many and still proves the American Dream is not accessible.

Throughout everything stated, America still does not provide access to the American Dream because of difficulty in gaining an education, low mobility, and racial inequality. The American Dream will soon just continue to be a dream and nothing more to others. America has evolved in ways that people cannot really keep up or it is much more challenging now. There are many obstacles in the way of trying to gain that goal and it will only increase as time goes on. America will never find its way back to the Dream so people should refrain from that ideal.

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