Essay On The American Dream - 1097 Words

Melissa Mendoza Professor Elena Alvarado-Strasser Sociology 100 07/15/2017 The American Dream to Sociologists If you asked the average American, they would agree that â€Å"everyone has equal opportunity if they just work hard enough.† Although we are a nation built on the pursuit of the American dream, sociologists would have to disagree that we all have equal opportunity within society, regardless of our work efforts. We are not all born on the same playing field, some of us have have more inherent advantages while other have more barriers. It is ideal to believe that we each have the same opportunity as our neighbors, colleagues, or classmates, but the reality is our future is built on where we fall into society. Our society is based on†¦show more content†¦Those of privilege tend to have parents with a higher education themselves. The quality of our education at an early start, dictates our outlook for our educations in the future. â€Å"Schools in poor districts have the poorest physical facilities, libraries, laboratories, academic programs, and teachers,† (Purr ucci and Wysong, 114) schools in the privileged areas of course, would have higher standards for their students and top of the line equipment and teachers. Children born into privileged families are expected to seek higher educations as their parents, while most working poor children are pushed to go to work right away to help their families, a higher education is not viewed as a realistic goal. They have limited monetary resources to pay for tuition, room, and board, let alone most of their own parents have not received a high school diploma, some not even grade school. Sociologists believe a person of privilege with a college degree (from a well known National college) would have stable, secure resources over time, a stable job and income, secure health insurance and pensions, compared to those in the working poor class with limited education would have to living paycheck-to-paycheck, possibly have to work multiple jobs to survive and are paid low wages, with no health benefits. T hose in the poor working class tend to have jobs within corporations thatShow MoreRelatedEssay On The American Dream1004 Words   |  5 PagesThe American Dream: Is it Only a Dream? From the moment colonists stepped foot on American soil, freedom flowed through their skin. The new country would bring endless opprotunities to anyone who wished to pursue their dreams. Through years of effort, the United States was born and along with it a sense of equality and meaning. Today, America has much to stand for. 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Starting with the European settlements in the 1600s and many waves of diverse groups of people migrated after thus creating this ideology known as the America Dream which encompasses the opportunity at a better life and growth in all aspects political, economic religious etc. But at what cost what is often forgot is the American nightmare which is included the perverse and horrifying accounts of colonialism, diaspora and slavery. Slaves were not migrants they did not come here on their own