The American Dream In America

The United States is considered to be one of the most prosperous nations in the world due to its prevalent opportunities. The idea that hard work defines one’s capabilities of success is one that has driven the nation since its foundation. The American Dream, as it has come to be known, is what attracts many immigrants to the United States. Many of these immigrants envision educational opportunities for their children, ones that likely begin in a public school. While opportunities may still arise from attending these institutions, immigrant children, or minority students as a whole, are often not given the same opportunities as their white counterparts. There has been debate on what is the best course of action to take to suppress this inequality.

While many fail to realize it, an education impacts our lives in ways we might not ponder about due to how basic they may seem. An education enables us to think, complete everyday tasks, and even influence our reasoning and decision making. By enabling a person to understand the world around them, an education truly unlocks one’s full capabilities. Education could truly make the difference between an ignorant person and one that contributes positively to society. Greek philosopher Aristotle believes that knowledge and one’s life have a direct correlation: “the energy of the mind is the essence of life.” While this was a belief centuries ago, this idea is one that is still prevalent among society today. The importance of education as possibly being the main determining factor to the level of one’s success only emphasizes that it should be society’s vital interest to make sure that everyone receives the same opportunity to succeed in an academic

As stated on the Encyclopedia of Informal Education, “Education is the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life.” (Smith, 2015) This means that education is a much broader term than what we normally come to think. Although school is where most people go to receive their education, it is not the sole place of learning. As the famous African proverb says, “it takes a village to raise a child”. Therefore, when looking into the education of a child, it is vital to look into what the child’s life is like outside of school. “…when of school-age, children only spend about 30 of their waking hours a week in our schools, and then only for about 2/3rds of the weeks in a year… In the course of a full year students might spend just over 1000 hours in school, and almost 5 times that amount of time in their neighborhood and with their families.” (Berliner, 2006) The life of a student outside of school plays a pivotal role on their academic success. Socioeconomic status is often attributed and measured by income, education, and occupation. Brookes-Gunn, Duncan, and Maritato state that children of higher-income families are likelier to succeed while children of lower-income families have not only had worse educational outcomes, but also health related ones. They include that children from low-income families are also more