At its core, the American Dream is the belief that through perseverance and honest work, one can go from impoverished to successful. Famed American inventor Robert Fulton, arguably a prime example of the Dream, once said, “The American dream of rags to riches is a dream for a reason—it is hard to achieve; were everyone to do it, it wouldn’t be a dream but would rather be reality.” While many have interpreted this to mean that success in the United States can be achieved through great effort, there is so much more to Fulton’s idea. The American Dream being “hard to achieve” is not only true in the sense of labor, but in the sense that there will always be hurdles on the road to success—hurdles that are different for everyone. Herein lies the truth of the American Dream: it is alive and well, but unfortunately, is not available to everyone, primarily due to the consequences of the cycle of poverty and its relationship with education. However, all must take advantage of the almost universal level of basic education and opportunity that is available to essentially everyone, such as the completion of a high school education.
Poverty limits access to employment opportunities, networking, personal financial guidance, and most importantly, education. This is an especially rampant problem for historically disenfranchised groups. Approximately 34% of African Americans, 28% of Hispanic Americans, and 34% of Indigenous Americans spend at least a portion of their childhoods in poverty, compared to only about 11% for whites. The numbers hardly improve when you look at overall poverty rates, which are 21%, 17%, and 24% respectively for black, Hispanic, and native populations. Nearly one-third of college students are the first in their families to attend higher education, which of course shows progress towards the realization of the American Dream. But even still, those in poverty can afford fewer than 5% of colleges, even with federal financial aid. A report from 2020 found that low income students had an average graduation rate of 79.5%, whereas non-low-income students had a graduation rate of over 90%. While this gap has started to narrow in recent decades, its mere existence is alarming. Failing to finish high school limits impoverished students’ ability to find opportunities and makes it impossible to pursue higher education, thus contributing to the cycle of poverty.
However, room remains for debate: is there still one’s personal responsibility to work within your means to create a better future regardless of socioeconomic conditions? There is no clear answer. While circumstances make things much more difficult for some, there are certain basic milestones that can reasonably be achieved by anyone, negating outstanding circumstances. In 2014, a report by the U.S. Census Bureau stated 14% of people with a high school diploma and no college education fell below the poverty line, compared to 29% for people with no high school diploma. While other factors are of course at hand, there is an undeniable correlation between the acquisition of a high school diploma and the likelihood that one will end up in poverty. In a nation where public high school education is provided as essentially a right, it is at least somewhat on the shoulders of the student to attain that diploma. So is poverty an instant eliminator to a life of success? Not necessarily, but one must always consider the wide spectrum of adversity that is faced by individuals based on the conditions they are raised in.
It can still not be forgotten that the American Dream of creating new businesses and seizing opportunities very well still exists for some. John Haltiwanger, a University of Maryland economist, contributed to a report focusing on the third quarter of 2020, saying, “Over the past three months, more new businesses were launched in the U.S. than in any quarter in history.” There exists room to grow in the American economy, which is one of the pillars of the American Dream. However, trouble arises when the individuals seeking that opportunity start with barely a fighting chance.
The American Dream is not a guarantee. This is the core misleading attribute within the entire concept. If one is not part of the right group, racially or socioeconomically, it unfortunately might not be in the cards for them. While many who have full faith in the Dream would say that if you work hard you will climb the social ladder, the reality is that if you work hard you may climb the social ladder, if you have the right socioeconomic conditions to do so. The American Dream is a promise that is constantly broken, and the only way to truly mend this is to reframe our thinking of the idea. It should not be understood as a promise of outcome but a promise of possibility.