American Dream Research Essay
America, known as the country of opportunity and freedom, where any man or woman can come and have a fair chance at achieving the desired goal commonly referred to as “The American Dream.” To many, successfully obtaining the American dream means having a stable 2 parent family, with financial prosperity, and abundant in political and social freedoms. This “dream” however, is more easily achieved by certain people over others, and although America prides itself on being the land of the “freedom” and “equality”, those words serve more strongly as a source of hypocrisy and irony. Ones race, social status, and even gender all determine the ability a person has to achieve this American Dream. America discriminates heavily against people that are anything other than wealthy white males. Race, social status, and gender are all crucial factors that play a huge role in ones ability to achieve the American Dream because often times they are not given as many or as equal of opportunities as others are based on the color of their skin, how much money they make each year, and whether they are a male or a female. So although America would like to think it’s providing a land of equal opportunity for all, in reality ironically it’s doing quite the opposite.
Discrimination against a person based on their race is one of the main causes in preventing one from having a fair opportunity to achieve the American Dream. Philip Deutsch writes “blacks are twice as likely to be poor compared to other races, and eight times as likely to be imprisoned. Only 75 percent of blacks have received post-high school education, compared to 85 percent of whites. Not surprisingly, blacks on average also make less money than whites” (“The American Dream is Still”). These facts, shocking but true, go to prove the point that a persons race affects what opportunities they may have and...