Land of Opportunity

United States of America Land of Opportunity?

United States of America is known as the land of opportunity for many immigrants who dare to dream of a better life. Since the beginning of American history, United States has focused more about equal opportunity than any other country. There are many people who strongly believe that once they come to the United States it is almost guaranteed to find success. For example, my relatives in Korea always ask my parents how much my family has earned so far. Also, they believe that we live in a totally different world, living the American dream. However, it seems like this country is no longer the land of opportunity for those who are immigrants and the low class people.

Many immigrants come to United States to achieve their America Dreams as my family did a few years ago. They think that they can get high-paying jobs easily, but the reality is not. According to an article, The Land of Opportunity? (Los Angeles business Journal, 1999), immigrants cannot get opportunities for high-paying jobs because: "The limited number of manufacturing jobs that they might have moved into in previous generations"; " The need for specialized training in many of jobs"; and "The lack of union-style apprentice program." The article also says that many Los Angeles' poor families are concentrated among recently arrived immigrant groups, most of them Latino, 600,000 or so

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in Los Angeles county at or below the poverty line.

It is not easy for the poor to find success, neither. According to Still the Land of Opportunity? (Sawhill, 1999), incomes are less evenly distributed than they were 20 or 30 years ago. In 1973, the richest 5 percent of all families had 11 times as much income as the poorest one-fifth. By 1996, they had almost 20 times as much. Well-placed parents can pass on advantages to their children without even trying and they can provide better environments for their children, educationally and emotionally, when the poor cannot on the other hand. For example, Mrs. Ki, who has been running two businesses for over 10 years, had her 2 children go to private schools. After her children graduated the school, she helped her children to open their own stores. As a result, her children could run their own business without even trying. On the other hand, one of my friends named Marie had to give up going a college because of lack of money. Her parents told her that they are not able to support her tuition fee and they wanted her to find a full-time job to support her family. As a result, she works at a sauna place as a receptionist instead of getting her education.

On the other hand, we may view these situations from another perspective. Those in developing countries with much less GDP would think it is better to work in the states. They can actually have access to more money to their hand although the illegal residents from another countries usually work for jobs that many Americans avoid to do. So

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the illegal residents still live here despite many disadvantages; they would like to discover newer opportunities and improve their financial situations through hard work.

Recently, more and more students come to the United States for studying abroad and further schooling. For example, students in Korea have difficulty in entering prestigious colleges without getting very high scores on the scandalized