A Fake Promise

The American Dream, along with the escape from the calamities of one's home land has always been the primary reason that immigrants are so drawn to America. Although the American Dream remains one of the greatest attractions of the land of the free, it has faced heavy criticism. One of the main criticisms is that the American Dream is misleading, that it is simply not possible for everyone to become prosperous through determination and hard work. The simple truth is that there are several reason why the American Dream is not available to everyone.

Among the majority of Americans and even world wide there is a clear consensus on the values of the American Dream. Getting into a good college, building a good career, and having a magnificent family seem to be the things we find most important, and are the things we strive for. For some this dream is not attainable. In example cases, it is essential for immigrants to go into full time labor once they are on American soil as a means of survival. In many if not most cases the immigrants have a poor educational background and are forced into low wage employment. While holding down a low wage full time job immigrants rarely have the time or the money to seek means of a higher education, so they do there best to survive in poverty.

I think the most direct evidence that proves the whole concept of the American Dream to be a myth are the difficulties of producing the finances for college. Sometimes it is difficult for the children of poor families, even with financial aid, to find the means to pay for college. Not being able to attend college hampers their future career success and leaves them at a disadvantage. Although money seems to be at the top of everyone's list, not everyone's American Dream may be based on great monetary gain.

Some would say that a person could go without a rightful education and righteous job and still have wonderful family, and this may be true. But not being able to gain the right education for a good job leads to a low income, meaning that this places a heavy hardship over many American families. These type of hardships lead to unemployment, low wages, and poverty which discourages family formation and erode family stability, making it less likely that individuals will marry in the first place and more likely that their marriages will deteriorate. Sociologist Scott South calculates that every time the unemployment rate rises by 1 percent, approximately