The American Dream Dead Or Barely Alive Analysis

Tony Nam
Rebecca Tewes
ENC 1101
1 December 2013
The American Dream: Dead or Barely Alive The American Dream, once a proud national ethos of the United States that set the ideals of many people finding opportunities to gain prosperity and success for themselves and their families has somewhat lost its meaning over the recent years. Struggling economy and inequality treatments between the upper-class and the lower-class has made many hard working American’s lives difficult, while the wealthy has gain upper advantages such as income and education despite doing half of the efforts that most lower-class citizens achieve to make a living. It is a shame considering the fact that my father gave up his dream job in South Korea to move
to the United States for me to experience the American lifestyle and freedom. He is the main reason of my curiosity regarding this topic; especially because of the way education and income have limited the chances given to lower classes of society to improve their social position today. This is a critical concern to writers like Matthew O Brien and Sarah Garland. _____O’Brien focuses on the inequality of the young people´s education as a source for fewer chances to achieve their American Dream, Garland targets the income as the principal reason for class inequalities in today´s American society. Although I agree both scenarios are equally critical for the future generations, I think education and income should not be the isolated causes that have affected the social economic status of youthful individuals; both elements correlate and together contribute to the disparity and severity of this situation. In his article “RIP, American Dream? Why It's So Hard for the Poor to Get Ahead Today” O’Brien explains how less mobility within social classes in American society is caused by a growing inequality between the high achieving-high income students and the high achieving-low income students in terms of education and success; this is emphasized by the lack of resources and information commonly found in low income families. Moreover he argues that smart distribution and education could reverse the effects of inequality. Although O’Brien writes this article for a newspaper that reaches mostly towards American audience, his text is also written as a suggestion that tempts to target political leaders/activists by including Barack Obama´s plans within his writing.
This is the appeal of pathos and logos that was used to raise awareness and persuade the audience on the issue. Additionally, O’Brien’s style of text would fall within the genre of opinionated-research article that includes several academic driven vocabularies; which is demonstrated by the way he includes statistics and several graphics in order to support his statements. He also includes an accessible language as well, in order to make his ideas more understandable to common knowledge. His research helps this article acquire credibility, which strengthens the appeal to ethos and his clear critique to the way education shapes low-income people´s chances to succeed. Even though I found it challenging to read, especially due to his elaborated arguments and long paragraphs, this is the kind of article that after reading it several times you will get the message. However, I believe his opinion is one sided in terms of the causes of the gap within social
classes. Although O’Brien and Garland are concerned about the growing breach between classes in American society, they disagree about exactly where the inequality comes from. While O’Brien´s approach to the topic of inequality is based on education, his colleague´s approach is focused on income. O’Brien believes the American dream ends “not with a bang, but a whimper of elite school applications by poor kids. Like it or not, the Ivies and other top schools are our conduit to the top, and far too many low income students who should be there are not” (par.10). According to him, this is the way our society perpetuates rich people at the top and restrains talented low income individuals from better opportunities. He argues high-income kids have more probability to end up rich without a college degree than poor kids who do reach any kind of college education; his statements are sharp and direct, they are structured as if making sure in every word that he is clearly in disagreement with this issue and wants to let the world know about it. In her article “When Class Became More Important to a Child's Education Than Race” Sarah Garland, a reporter, shows how today´s income inequality has taken over the chances of children from low income families to succeed; based on certain families’ social status and arguing race is not as compelling as it was decades ago, she explains this gap is a severe problem that could be enhanced through a better redistribution of income, which she defines as non-politically convenient; she suggests the assistance of social work programs and an improved quality in the education provided to critical/poor levels of society as solutions to this issue. Nonetheless Garland´s article is an elaborated and well-structured article, the way it is written shows less formality compared to the first article´s complexity. This is to say; this article is open to a broader audience, specifically young-adult students and families from every social status as well. Garland uses an accessible language designed to help the reader catch instantly her arguments, which deeply strengthens her appeals of logos. In regards of her use of pathos, she appeals to specific real life stories that show a contrast within her research and enrich the main thesis along the text; also in order to broaden more her point of view she tempts to feelings of race and historical remarks such as Martin Luther King´s Speech. As she constantly emphasizes several studies that fit her angle of vision, concerning the gap between wealthy and poor children her opinionated, nonfiction article shows a strong use of ethos as she brings the topic from a general idea to concrete and detailed case studies, allowing herself and the reader to establish a direct connection, almost as if she is trying to relate to each of the stories; something that definitely contrasts with O’Brien´s writing style. Despite O’Brien and Garland relate education and income to inequality; Garland concentrates on details such as past events that have influenced the gap as it is, a great example of her concern is the way race used to be a better indicator of inequality compared to its effectiveness today.
Furthermore, they agree the mobility between social classes is unlikely today, which means rich kids will stay rich and poor kids are prone to stay at a low class as well; however, while garland believes high income influences better education in high income kids, and that this eventually guarantees them a spot in the Ivies, O’Brien argues high income kids end up at the top universities either just because the mere fact they are rich or as a result of low applicants from low income families to the ivies. Therefore, it seems Garland perceives income as a first cause for inequality; according to her point of view high income will provide quality education, and this will guarantee better chances for rich kids to stay rich; in contrast to O’Brien, who thinks the end of the American dream and the origin of inequality is education, as he suggests it is mainly the fact talented low income students don’t have resources such as clear information to apply to Ivies and reach a better social status that perpetuates the
breach. With this in mind, I believe education and income are neither first nor second leading causes to inequality itself in the US, I strongly believe education and income are tied when it comes to the breaches between classes. And as soon as I had that idea on my mind, I thought: Why is it sounds so simple yet is it so hard to understand? It might be true that graduating from an ivy school will benefit your future and put you at a better social class, but it will never be the same as coming from a high income family, which includes the privilege of incredible networks and splendid opportunities within the job market, where most of the time, certain positions are guaranteed for certain individuals. With this in mind, I realized education and income come to the same terms and one affects inequality as much as the other does. Finally, we find ourselves witnessing “the end of the American Dream”. A dream that is increasingly harder to understand and achieve. After O’Brien suggestions regarding education is the great key to social inequality and Garlands views on income as the main reason for breaches in society, I find is hard to reconcile between education and income, which one comes first? This leads me to equally consider their effectiveness when it comes to inequality. However, as this happens I find myself witnessing a terrible idea: the idea inequalities have always existed, the idea inequalities will always prevail and the thought that maybe, some Americans have no idea of what real inequality in a country like North Korea looks like.