Since the United States was founded, its reputation has been one of “equal opportunity for all”, anyone can grow up to be president, as long as a person works hard, he or she will succeed, etc. People come to the United States seeking a better life, having heard all of the ideas that suggest that it is possible to work one’s way up the ladder of success if one is motivated to do so. Unfortunately, many people discover all too quickly that this is not the case, at least at this point in history; indeed, whether or not a person succeeds is largely based on his or her contacts, being in the right place at the right time, and whether or not there is a legacy involved that tends to open the doors to success. This paper will discuss the myth of the American dream, supporting the thesis that there is no reality to the concept of “equal opportunity” for all the citizens of the country, and that the ability of a person to achieve success depends on many other factors aside from hard work and motivation.
When President Obama was reelected and delivered his inaugural address in 2013, he reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the aspirations of equality of opportunity, saying that “we are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal…” (Stiglitz, 2013.) This was eloquent rhetoric, but the fact is that the divide between dreams and reality is wider than ever; at this point, the United States has fewer opportunities for equality than nearly any other industrialized nation. The myth that the United States offers a land of opportunity to all has been exposed as false. Most Americans are aware of this, and in fact, nearly 90% of US citizens believe that the government should do everything it can to restore equality of opportunity (Stiglitz, 2013.)
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The vision of the US as a land of opportunity may have existed a century ago, when it could be argued that the opportunities available to people in the nation were greater than those that were open to people living anywhere else in the world. But for at least 25 years, the rags to riches myth that has been so widely associated with what is viewed as a typical American success story has not existed. Social mobility in the United States is not impossible, but Americans who are upwardly mobile have become a statistical aberration. Research by the Brookings Institution reported that only 58% of Americans who are born into the bottom fifth of income earners are able to move out of their category; only 6% born into the bottom fifth move into the top (Stiglitz, 2013.) That makes the rate of economic mobility in the US significantly lower than in many of the European nations and lower than in all of the Scandinavian countries.
Equality of opportunity can be measured by the extent to which the life chances of a child depend on the educational attainment as well as income of his or her parents. For example, is a child born to poor or poorly educated parents as likely to get a good education and become middle-class as one who is born to middle-class parents who have college degrees? If society indeed had equal opportunity, the answer would be yes. But the future of a United States citizen depends more on the income and education of one’s parents than in nearly any other industrialized country that collects data on the subject.
The reasons for this situation are complex, but they include the stubbornly continual discrimination that exists in this country. Latinos as well is African-Americans continue to earn less than Caucasians, and women are still being paid at a lower rate than men, although women have outnumbered men in the number of advanced degrees that they have earned. Even though there is less gender disparity in the workforce than in the past, women are significantly underrepresented in top corporate positions and make up only a fraction of CEOs, a sign that the glass ceiling is as strong as ever (Stiglitz, 2013.) Such discrimination is only a small portion of the problem, however. Most likely the most significant source of lack of equality of opportunity remains educational attainment, both quality and quantity. Following World War II, in Europe there were significant attempts to democratize the educational systems in those countries; in the US, similar efforts were made with the G.I. bill, which provided higher educational benefits to Americans of all socioeconomic groups. However, the country changed that direction in a variety of ways. Even though racial segregation was reduced, economic segregation rose, and during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, in the 1980s the poor got poorer, the middle class was stagnant, and the upper class became richer and richer. The income gap widened between people living in poor communities and those residing in the rich suburbs. There were growing income and educational gaps between the upper and lower classes. Other factors affecting equal opportunity exist as well: children from families with wealth tend to become more frequently exposed to reading and less frequently exposed to environmental hazards; in addition, their families are able to afford enhancing activities such as music lessons and summer camp, better nutrition and health care, all of which provide enhancement to their learning.
In order to reverse the current trends in education and income inequality, public policies must focus on the youngest citizens in the country. For example, it is imperative that pregnant women are not exposed to environmental hazards, and that they receive sufficient prenatal care (Stiglitz, 2013.) Cuts to preschool education should be restored, and children should also be consistently fed a diet that is characterized by quality as well as sufficient quantity. Finally, the fact that the United States makes it so difficult for people at the lower end of the income spectrum to achieve higher educational degrees ensures that success will be out of reach for a large portion of the population.
The myth of equal opportunity in the United States is reinforced by the fact that two out of the last four presidents came from the same family, as well as other presidents in history that were cousins or other relatives within the same wealthy families. Certainly, there are exceptions to that phenomenon such as the occasional rags to riches success story, but for the most part, whether or not one achieves true success is mostly dependent on to whom they were born, where they were born, and who they were able to connect with along the way. Large groups of people, such as African-Americans, Latinos, and other minority groups, simply have not had access to the same opportunities as those who travel in the more elite circles. That is not likely to change because this stratified economic and class system is so entrenched in the social and financial landscape of the United States that it would take a tremendous amount of action and unrest to begin to transform the structure in order to equalize opportunities.
- Stiglitz, J. (2013, February 16). Equal Opportunity: Our National Myth. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/equal-opportunity-our-national-myth/
