American Dream or American Damned

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Living the American Dream is becoming something farther and farther out of reach for our society, and many don’t even realize it. The current teenage population is projected to be less successful than their parents are. Poverty circumstances that many citizens are born into are increasingly harder to overcome. How can young adults escape the poverty levels in order to become competitive in the professional world when the opportunities are slimmer than ever? American society is becoming harder for those to get ahead and live the American Dream; living above the status quo takes dedication, perseverance, and tenacity.
Poverty has many different meanings throughout the world, to some, poverty is a third-world country; however, in America poverty is generally categorized in two ways. Situational poverty is one way; this means that the person is considered to be in poverty because of certain circumstances that they may be undergoing. However, the second, and much more oppressive to our society as it seems, is generational poverty. “Seventy-one percent of the participants also reported that their personal worth was judged by the kind of work their parents did or did not do” (Beegle 13). A person is considered to be victim of generational poverty if they were born into it and also die in it. Generational poverty is a vicious cycle that plagues much of our world today, even those around us in American society.
The biggest enemy of poverty is lack of education not only for the victims of it, but also for those that have the ability to help. Many are born into an impoverished lifestyle with expectations to overcome it someday, yet still lack the skills needed to do so. Opportunities often require money and a great education to back it u...

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...o do so. America is the wealthiest and most successful nation in the world so there is no need for any of our population to live poverty stricken lives. Getting ahead in the social ladder takes dedication, a dream, and the skills in order to do so. Generational poverty is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in American society; it is an issue that something can be done about, if people chose to take the time.

Works Cited

Beegle, Donna M. Overcoming the Silence of Generational Poverty. Rep. Invisible Literacies, n.d. Web.

Carlock, Happy. "A Different Type of Poverty." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 05 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

"Minimum Wage Laws in the States - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor." Minimum Wage Laws in the States - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

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