The American Dream And Education Essay

The American Dream is an idea ingrained in American society. The idea of prosperity and raising a family in the suburbs is as iconically American as Baseball and apple pie. The “high-point” for the American Dream was in the post World War II era from about 1945-1975 (Krugman). This was mainly because people could move easily up from the lower classes. Now, however, the American Dream is on the verge of extinction. Doors are closing off and people are becoming stuck in their economic classes. The once liquid barriers that separated economic classes are now rigid like a brick wall. Despite the fact that American is nearing distinction because of today’s economic climate, it can be restored by reforms and education.

America’s economic structure used to be a diamond, with the majority of Americans within the middle class. Now, however, America’s economic climate represents an hourglass, with bulging upper and lower sections and a narrow, almost non-existent middle (Lansley). This could be attributed to “walmartization” the concept of low-paying, low-skill jobs keeping people at the bottom of the economic

By putting more money in education more students will pursue higher levels of education and underfunded school districts would see the number of students continuing on for higher level education increase exponentially. This is essential as the only way to move up in economic class in today’s economy is through getting higher levels of education. This is shown by Georgetown’s study that out of 2.9 million “good” jobs, 2.8 million were given to people with at least a bachelor's degree (Geewax). Not only is this beneficial in helping the recovery of the American Dream, but it would also raise the overall standard of education in the US. This would prove incredibly beneficial as the US is already well behind other first world countries in lower-level