What Is America The Land Of Opportunity

America is well known as the Land of Opportunity because it provides individuals with many different options in life so they can achieve anything they set their mind to, no matter who they are, but is everyone today given that equal right to each opportunity? According to the dictionary equal opportunity is “the policy of treating others without discrimination, especially because of sex, race, or age”. Therefore in my opinion, I do not think America is really the ‘land of opportunity’ for all people equally. Although Americans are entitled to the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence to establish equality, the society has taken away our rights. Our liberty gives us the right to be independent
and have freedom to pursue our own interest in the world, but today many Americans have become too dependent on individual’s skin color, gender, how much money they have, where they stay, etc., instead of who that person is on the inside. As stated in the book, “Our experiences shape our views on life, our attitudes, our values, and our behavior….
Those who learn middle-class views, with its norms, aspirations, and values, have little in common with the orientations to life that arise from living in neighborhoods of deep poverty” (355). Just because one has grew up in a less industrialized neighborhood should not classify them as not being able to achieve the same thing as someone in a more industrialized neighborhood; where you are opened to bigger and better things just because you have more money, this doesn’t make you any better than someone less fortunate. Everyone has choices and decisions to make in life, and it is up to you to change and become better than what you were before. Just because someone puts a label on you, you have the same right, just as anyone else to rise above no matter your race or gender. According to Mint in the article “America, though Challenged, still the land of Opportunity”, he states “the character of our culture has to do with opportunity in America”, meaning how you were brought up in life; whether you had to work for what you got, if you got things handed to you,
etc. He was raised by his single mother and they struggled economically but always worked hard for everything they got and did, just because of this simple financial problem he would not be given the same opportunity as someone who has a lot of money, but has never worked hard a day in their life; this person doesn’t even know the value of a dollar. In “America- The Land of Opportunity”, Bill Ayres proclaims that the younger generations are struggling more for jobs and insurance.
As many thought if you graduated and work hard it would be easy to get ahead, but this is not the case. The newer generations have a hard time finding a good job that pays good and have good benefits whereas, generations before us could find a good job soon as they graduated high school; to get a decent job nowadays a high school and college degree is a requirement. As stated in “America is Still the Land of Opportunity”, many families worry about what their kids are being taught in the public-school system but they can’t afford a better way to get them educated, so they have no other choice. The average American salary has doubled since 1976 which was $25,994 to $51,173 today, but has not captured the actual living standard that is need today is four to eight times more than what it was in the 1970’s. Since the 1970’s we have had a lot of improvements, technology being a main one. With many of these families are living in poverty and face obstacles in life that prevent them from these good
opportunities. No matter your circumstance you can build a better life, just because you have situations in life does not mean it should control how your future will turn out. As a nation, we must get America back on track so everyone can have a better opportunity at life.