The American dream has become a fabled idea to everybody around the world envisioning a better life. It represents something that can be attained if a person is willing to work hard enough.
The only question today is, does it still exist? While economic and employment disparities will argue whether it does or not, the American population holds on to the dream. Seemingly, it depends on who you talk to.
Ephraim Polsky, 89, a Polish immigrant, moved to America with his family when he was six. He did not speak English, and had to be homeschooled by his mother for two years until his eldest sister taught him English.
He is one of a family of nine, came from nothing, spoke only Polish when he moved here, and he believes in the American dream because it happened to him.
“I taught myself how to cut hair instead of finishing school. I would have liked to finish school, but my family needed money.”
And so, Polsky taught himself to cut hair and then began apprenticing under a local barber when he was only seventeen years old in Brooklyn. From there, he was able to save enough to open his own shop.
He met his wife, and together they raised three children. Mrs. Polsky never had to work. She also came from nothing, a German immigrant who spoke very little English when arriving in the U.S.
The two were able to retire in relative comfort after saving for many years, and believe America is a place for people who work hard, and are willing to make sacrifices.
Today, this is still true. People must work hard and make sacrifices for the dream. Recent studies show the middle-class is dwindling and, in today’s market, it would be unlikely for a person to succeed without a high school degree.
In fact, studies have shown 60% of business will not consider hiring an individual without at least a high school diploma. Most want some form of college degree with experience.
Perhaps the issue is that Americans have high expectations. Families, homes, cars, nights out, and other luxuries are expected. Studies have shown, however, that no countries pay enough to support this lifestyle.
Many Americans today struggle to meet the bare essentials to survive in today’s society. While some are able to make a life without an education work, for most, a college degree has become an expensive necessity to become something.
Amanda Stanford, 20, has hope for the American dream, but it is slowly dwindling. A struggling college student, buried under student debt, she wonders how she will succeed after graduating.
Growing up, Stanford wanted to be a lawyer, but as she got older, she realized how much law school would cost and realized she could not afford it. Today she has settled for a more sensible career in business.
So far she as accumulated $17,500 in student loans, with two years of school left to finish.
“They tell you, ‘go to college to make enough money to live,’ but all of my money is going to go back to paying off these bills.”
Standford has a point. Nearly 75% of university-bound students are forced to take out some form of student loans, and 50% of them express significant stress over the idea of paying them back.
Many of these loans are in excess of $50,000 after the student leaves school, begging the question of just how important college is anyway, or if there is other ways to make it that access the American dream.
Miguel Martinez, 25, a Honduran immigrant who moved to the U.S. when he was fourteen, is still searching for the dream his parents promised him when they left his home.
Martinez’s father left him, his mother, and his three younger sisters when Martinez was only ten. He worked, sent money, and waited until there was enough for the family to join him. Finally there was.
“The whole time, my dad told me there were opportunities here. And then there were, but I was fourteen. They wanted me in school.”
Martinez finished school as one of the first in his family to receive their high school diploma. This was a representation of the American Dream to them. There was, however, no money for college. There are also no jobs.
“I’m legal. I’m educated. But people see me and they just see a Mexican. I get treated differently.”
Today, Martinez works as a gardener with his father and some friends. It is a steady paycheck, but it is not what he was promised when he was uprooted from his home.
Though the middle-class is shrinking significantly, and unemployment seems to see a new all-time high each year, there are still some individuals who believe in the American dream because it has worked for them.
Oscar Martin, 42, owns a small land-development firm that he began from scratch. He worked at a McDonald’s for nine years, saving everything he could manage until he finally had enough for a small start-up project.
The business began with Martin his friends, renting equipment on weekends to perform small jobs. Taking their earnings, they saved to buy their own equipment. At this point, they were not taking any days off from either of their jobs.
After six months, they were able to buy their own equipment, and after a year, they began going part-time at their day-jobs and performing more work for the land-development firm. Their dream was becoming a reality.
Ten years later, Martin is running a successful business, and his days at McDonald’s are behind him. He does not think he could have seen such success in any other country.
Martin’s story is wonderful but, unfortunately, it is becoming one that is not heard often. It appears the American dream is an increasingly ironic term for the average American and the shrinking middle-class.
While many stories make it sound as though the American dream never existed, and a few exceptions were able to attain it, it was once a very real thing. Polsky and Martin, as well as many others are proof.
Decades ago, America enjoyed economic growth the country likely thought it would never see. The country overflowed with jobs. It was possible to have a barbershop flourish with no formal education. Apprenticeships were common, as well.
Today there are also success stories wherein individuals can even become a billionaire without a formal education. Steve Jobs is perhaps one of the best known stories, but one must keep in mind, he changed the face of technology forever.
Therefore, unless the average American has an idea or a product that is going to reinvent an entire industry, it is unlikely they are going to achieve a Steve Jobs level of success under the guise of the American Dream.
Possibly the most disillusioning, are individuals who have had the American dream, and been alive to lose it, as Katherine Bates, 62, has had happen to her.
Once a successful business woman who was on her way to breaking the glass ceiling, she lost everything, including her pension when the real-estate market collapsed. Bates lost her health coverage, and pension.
As one of the 700,000 Americans who lose their health insurance every year through their employer, Bates and her husband immediately sought insurance on the private market.
They found at that time, they were uninsurable based on pervious conditions, and her husband’s prior surgery.
She and her husband thought about moving to Canada. She joked that the real estate market might be better there, and that Americans might be moving there often. Today she works at a Target as an Assistant Manager.
It appears that though some are gaining success, the economic downfall of the country has left most seeing behind the veil of the American dream. It has forced many of them to wonder if it was ever real at all.
Whether it existed once or not does not help Americans struggling today. Some once had the American dream and retired with it, others saw it lost. Some alive today have seen it bloom in full force.
There are still many who have not yet seen it come to pass, who are waiting for it to happen to them, who are working hard. They wonder if the American dream is just that, a dream, and they wait.
