American Dream Dbq

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3 Shocking Secrets About the American Dream You Never Thought You’d Know

Are some people born disadvantaged when it comes to achieving the American Dream? The American Dream is less accessible to low-income families and people of color. Additionally, a person’s geographical location affects their upward mobility. But just how disadvantaged are these groups? The degree to which people have access to the American Dream through higher education is dependent on their economic and ethnic backgrounds, as well as their geographic location.
Generally, the clearest path to achieving the American Dream is through a college education. However, a college degree isn’t always a surefire way of achieving the Dream. In The Atlantic (Source E), Matthew O’Brien …show more content…

It’s no secret that “high priced real estate increases property taxes,” (Source G) and those taxes go on to fund public schools, bringing in more affluent families. Low-income students in these schools find themselves surrounded in an environment where “classmates expect them to go on to college,” (Source G) in turn making these students more academically engaged. In addition to the positive environment, low-income students who attend more affluent schools are given access to critical support when it comes to submitting applications to elite colleges. Unfortunately, the inverse of this is also true. Low-income students who attend poorly funded schools are not given the support they need to get themselves to a quality education. This is where the Dream fails, with “a whimper of elite school applications by poor kids.” (Source E) The reality of the situation is, Ivies and other top schools are the route to the top, and without proper support, low-income students have no chance getting there, all because of their zip code and the area in which they live not sufficiently funding public …show more content…

Lee Siegel, in his article “Rise of the Tiger Nation” illustrates just how tough it can be for people of color, specifically Asian Americans, to be accepted into top schools. He states, “Ivy League schools… stand accused of the discrimination against Asian American students who… must score higher than whites” to be admitted. While Asian Americans are still a minority in America, they remain the fastest growing group of people of color in the United States. However, even after a person receives their college degree, race still plays a large factor in their upward mobility. For example, in 2013 The Pew Charitable Trusts (Source K) claimed that “whites were two times more likely to leave the bottom quintile than blacks.” That’s absurd. But why is there this enormous gap in income mobility? Why are people of color so disadvantaged when it comes to upward mobility as compared to their white counterparts? The answer lies in the institutionalized racism and systematic oppression that our country is built upon, and racial minorities will continue to have these struggles at the hands of those in power (whites) until major changes are

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