Saturday, June 17, 2017

American Dream Essay-Lisa Wu


Lisa Wu
Ms. Branonn
AP Language
10 March 2017
 The American Dream Mirage
The term American Dream was first introduced in James Truslow Adams’s The Epic of America. He defines the American Dream as “that dream of a land in which life should be be better and richer and fuller for every man.”  which has been idealized and altered throughout history to this day. Currently the Middle Class has achieved the steady American Dream and has yet to realize that their lifestyle is the borderline target in accomplishing the American Dream that is now more difficult to accomplish than ever. Although some say that the American Dream is attainable as America offers many opportunities such as education and life in America is better than life in most other countries, ultimately, for most Americans the American Dream remains nothing more than a dream due to income inequalities.
Some say that the American Dream is still attainable because of the vast opportunities and chances of achieving success, however, income inequality only benefits the wealthy making the American Dream unachievable to the majority of lower class Americans. According to Alana Semuels, a staff writer at The Atlantic and previously a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, the wealthy benefit from the “system that has helped create their wealth: the private schools, the elite colleges, and the growing salaries for those at the top. And they have little incentive to change it”. This shows how the small population of the wealthy benefit from the current economy and gives back to the services they favor such as private colleges, which creates a cycle of wealth that can only be achieved by the wealthy, whereas the lower class relies on government help and are less likely to have access to such services making it difficult for them to achieve the American Dream. Furthermore, Semuels noted that, “In the 1980s, the top 1 percent of adults earned 27 times more than the bottom 50 percent. Now, they earn 81 times more”. Semuels also adds that although the average national income per adult has increased “60 percent… since 1980”, these gains have mostly occurred at the top for the wealthy, thus giving Americans a false reality of national income. This reveals how the small percentage of wealthy have come to increase their earnings by 54 times, which is a drastic increase compared to the lower class, which has barely made progress over the years., This demonstratesthus showing us that the wealthy only continue to get richer whereas the lower class struggles to make progress. Also this reveals how the wealthy are corrupting our economy and raising the costs of everyday services and higher education, which in turn benefits themselves and devastates the lower class as they struggle to keep up with the wealthy, thus depriving them of the chances of possibly achieving success, causing them to fall behind, and making the American Dream nothing more than a dream.
There are those that say the American Dream is alive as many opportunities such as public schooling has allowed children a chance to an education despite their social or financial status, however, income inequality has created an unfair chance of achieving success and higher level education for the lower class compared to the upper class. According to Paul Krugman, an American economist, and the study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, family status was more significant in determining a student’s chance of finishing college than high test scores. Students who scored in the top percentile but had parents in the bottom quartile were less likely to finish college compared to students who scored poorly and whose parents were in the top quartile. This indicates how income inequality is defining the chances students have in succeeding in life and finishing college, thus making the American Dream of attending college and living a better life, a difficult dream to accomplish for the lower class. Furthermore, in an article published on the Washington Post, Elizabeth Caucutt, an associate professor of economics at University of Western Ontario, states how 6 to 7 year old children “from richer families are more than twice as likely to be enrolled in special lessons or extracurricular activities compared with their lower-income counterparts”. This emphasizes how income inequality results in different access to opportunities and gives children from wealthier backgrounds a higher chance of success as they have more money to invest in their children’s education and future. This supports how the American Dream is difficult to attain due to income inequality and that only the small percentage of the wealthy can afford to live and achieve the American Dream whereas the the lower class are less likely to do so.
Finally, one can also argue that the American Dream is attainable, because the American Dream is not about gaining extreme wealth, but about  living a “better and fuller life” such as the lifestyle of middle class as argued by author David Kamp in The Way We Were, “The Middle Class is a good place to be”. The existence of the middle class indicates that the Dream is still attainable, however, the rapidly growing gap between the rich and the poor and the declining middle class reveals that although the middle class is a comfortable place to be, they have slowly become a minority showing that even the middle class American Dream is dwindling. In her article, Marilyn Geewax a senior editor and economics correspondent quotes the Pew Research Center which stated that, middle-income Americans did not just decrease in population “but have fallen further behind financially, with their median income down 4 percent compared with the year 2000”. This proves how the middle class that many have claimed to be the border of achieving the American Dream is now diminishing revealing that the American Dream is slowly losing its prominence as income inequality causes many middle class Americans to drop into a lower financial status. Moreover, according to Tami Luhby, a senior writer and graduate of Columbia’s School of Journalism, middle class Americans have, “struggled under stagnating wages and soaring costs” and according to Rakesh Kochhar, an associate at Pew, “This is yet another sign of growing income inequality”. This validates that the American Dream is no longer as easy as it was to achieve in the past and that Americans are now either falling behind and losing hold of the dream or are unable to reach the dream at all. Although the middle class is the target in achieving the American Dream, its decline shows that the American Dream is now nothing more than a dream for most Americans due to the growing income inequality.
Income inequalities are normal in a capitalist nation and economy like America, however the currently growing gap between the wealthy and the poor has devastating consequences and is slowly eliminating the American Dream, making it an unattainable dream for many. The growth and control of the wealthy upper class on the economy, the effect of financial status on determining education and success, and the decline of the Middle Class, which are all results of income inequality, justifies that the American Dream is slowly disappearing. Americans look hopefully to achieve the Dream but don’t realize that it is no longer achievable for many. If income inequality continues to widen and the gap between the upper and lower class increases, it may not be very long until the American Dream is completely impossible to achieve except for the extremely rich and wealthy and the American Dream will no longer be merely a difficult dream to accomplish, but a mirage on the verge of disappearing.

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