Since it's incredible beginning, America has been looked to as the city on a hill--a virtuous society that all countries should model themselves after. The American Dream has been the shining light for immigrants as they see Lady Liberty, standing for everything that is good and righteous; however, in recent decades America has had a falling out. Slowly, the values of the solid society are falling under attack as greed and power become more prominent than generousity and equality. The class-gap is slowly lengthening, and although the middle class is still mobile, class mobility for the top and bottom fifth quintiles is becoming more and more impossible.
Along with the birth of the United States of America, came the birth of the American Dream. Everyone in the world believed America was the place to escape a past, burdened life and redefine themselves as the next John D. Rockefeller. The hope is what led many immigrants to the United States and is still a leading cause today. "In America, anything is possible." These are the words of Yasmina Shaush in Source D. She makes it clear that, "to be born in America is a gift, one that should never be wasted." It is quite clear from her beautiful essay on one of the world powers, that for many people the American Dream still exists. Sadly, I can't help but think this is false hope. Yes, it is very true that America has better conditions than other countries in the world, and, yes, Steve Jobs did start as a poor orphan and founded one of the greatest companies to ever thrive; however, both of these facts do not change the fact that America is a capitalistic society, and most certainly contains a dog-eat-dog mentality. The richest survive easily, and the poor continually tumble down the totem pole.
According Sean F. Reardon's article for the New York Times, No Rich Child Left Behind, the chance for social mobility is very slim. Since the 1960s, America has unconsciously allowed the rich population to kick the lower class even further down. "The proportion of students from upper-income families, who earned a bachelor's degree, has increased by 18 percentage points over a 20 year period, while the same rate for poor students has only grown 4." This statistic proves that the chance for social mobility is becoming more difficult. The basic fact that, "students growing up in high income families have higher grades and standardized test scores, as well as participation in sports, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and church attendance." Reardon clearly states the fact that the David's of the country are taking over and becoming the central control of the country, tossing the low-income families aside.
Source F also demonstrates the continuous struggle of class mobility in the graphs provided. Figure 3 shows a graph of the percentage of children, who have grown up and earned a full-time job as an adult. The graphs show that 43% of the children, who started at the bottom, stay there, and 40% of those who started at the top, remain at the top. In the middle quintiles, the adults were evenly spread in all quintiles, but it is very hard to move for the top and bottom quintiles, which are a very large percent of the American population. Source G backs up the information given in Source F by showing graphs on mobility in America. The graphs show those who start in the five quintiles and where they end up. In both sources, the middle is quite divided on where the children end up, but for the top and bottom fifth, a large majority stays where they started.
The American Dream is one of the founding principles of the United States of America. It was, and still is, said that anyone, no matter where they come from, can achieve their dreams. This country was looked to as an idealistic city on a hill that could do no wrong. I, however, do not believe the dog-eat-dog place it has become can be saved by old tradition. The greed cannot be stopped. The rich will only get richer, and then pass it along to their sons and daughters. As the class gap continues to stretch, I realize that the middle class may be able to move, but the high and low classes of America are becoming paralyzed economically. I hope that one day the United States of America will redefine itself as the city on a hill, but until then, the greed and power of the wealthy will continuously attack the golden gates.
