The American Dream Essay Research Paper CONTEMPORARY — страница 2

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economic, unfortunately it tends to follow a racial divide, lessening the access of the American Dream to minority groups. Jeffrey Klein states “..that although American society is more diverse than ever before, a charged division still exists; namely the line between blacks and whites” (1997:3). Affirmative action laws were passed in an attempt to redress this situation, particularly in respect to college entry and access to professional institutions. Affirmative action was seen as a vehicle for improving the educational and workplace opportunities of minorities, thereby bringing the reality of the American Dream closer to their grasp. More recently there has been a backlash against the concept and practice of race-based affirmative action (Feagin & Vera, 1995:146). The

idea behind affirmative action contradicts a widely held American belief that no racial or ethnic group deserves a mandated advantage in the marketplace (ibid). Moreover, opponents to affirmative action laws argue that their own access to the American Dream is restricted by the mandatory workplace and college entry positions allocated to minority groups. The laws have been successfully challenged by white college applicants who claim to have lost out in the fiercely competitive bid for entry to top colleges and who claim places have gone to less qualified students from minority groups. Proponents of affirmative action claim the system helps minority students who score less on the all-important SAT’s because they have not been able to attend better resourced schools or been able

to afford expensive tutors. Places offered through affirmative action help overcome the economic divide and, by hopefully opening career opportunities to a greater cross-section of the community, help to widen the attainment of the American Dream. There is no doubt that the decline in economic prospects for large sections of the American community is leading to the death of the American Dream in the eyes of those affected. Money is perceived as the only way out and, for some, the chance comes with sporting success. High profile, high earning professional sports stars keep the Dream alive in the hearts of many. Not necessarily the dream of a house with a picket fence, but the dream that they too could be the next Michael Jordan. In Hoop Dreams, the two young basketball players

were both attempting to fulfil the criteria of the American Dream. The only way for them to get out of the ghetto, move their families out of poverty and receive a decent education was through basketball. To be selected for a college team meant a chance at the NBA and, therefore, a chance at life. When one boy is not selected you see the heartache in his eyes and the fear that his Dream may not be fulfilled The Dream that is envisioned by the decaying inner-urban areas of the US undoubtedly differs in perception from the Dream of the American Heartland. The all-American farmer and his access to the ‘Dream’ is important not only because the farming sector is an essential part of the US economy, but also because rural America has continually suffered under the weight of

economic crises. Many smaller farms, particularly those that are family owned, have had to sell out to leave a structure of agriculture for larger farms dependent on hired labour (Barlett, 1993). This has forced many farming families, as was seen in Troublesome Creek, to face alternative visions of success, the good life, and notion of the American Dream. For these people the Dream is not dead, yet. Rather, it is withering away with the rest of their crops, taken over by an economical weed that is rooted too deep even for a Federal fertiliser to kill. The rural crisis has changed family farmers’ expectations of the American Dream. Barlett states that “parents are increasingly urging their children to seek employment away from the farm out of fear of them not reaching the

Dream of increased income, financial security and other measures of success that have become dominant values in America’s industrialised capitalist society” (1993:6). For the parents, the American Dream is dying, but for their children it is still within reach if they join the exodus away from rural life. The tiny percentage of farms owned by African-Americans are mainly in the south-east of the country. For years hidden discrimination has hampered possibility of their economic success (ibid). Rural bank loans have been structured to make their availability almost non-existent and government grant approvals often held up until individual farmers have been too deep in debt to succeed. Farms which could have been economically viable have been deserted and the farmer’s Dream