Equal Opportunity in America… A Myth?

As I start my car, I realize that the gaslight is on. As I set my sights on the gas station, the car rumbles and chokes, as the engine breathes its last breath of fumes from the gas tank. Luckily, I am on a hill and able to coast down to the gas station. I fill up and cringe at the price. As I am about to pay, I see a guy in his thirties standing in line in front of me. He pays for his gas and buys a lottery ticket. This action seems to amuse me as countless people turn to luck across the nation, despite the miniscule chances, to make money and get rich. But then again, that miniscule chance feels pretty good compared to the high cost of living in America.

The high cost of living in America has forced many people into poverty or living from paycheck to paycheck. In 2004, 12.7% of people in the United States are in poverty. (U.S. Census Bureau) According to Linda Tetzlaff, “There are seventy percent of Americans living from paycheck to paycheck.” With so many people in poverty or are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, issues that address equal opportunity come to mind. Equal opportunity is a myth that exists in America, especially when these four factors come into play: education, gender, race, and family wealth.

America is the place where everyone is equal and everyone has equal individual opportunities. That is what the public is made to think; it is a false belief. Most people who are poor are not well educated. Our nation is one that success is factored by education, so these people are stuck at where they are financially. We think that poor and uneducated people have the opportunity to go to college and earn more money, but they have no time or resources to pursuit this path to greater wealth. This applies to a lot of people, especially the immigrants. When people immigrate to this country, they barely have any belongings or money; they are hoping to start over.

These immigrants, along with many other Americans, start with low paying jobs. The incomes from these jobs aren’t enough to pay off the expenses of the necessities of America’s lifestyle: taxes, food, housing, clothes, transportation, and bills. With this in mind, how will these people have time and money for college? Essentially, they are locked up in their line of work and class, which describes the situation in Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Serving in Florida.” Education is an equal opportunity by legal standards, but is a different story when it comes to real life because legal processes alone can’t control everything.

Many people throughout the world believe that the reason people have the opportunity to grow in status is because of education; high school is free and open to almost every citizen in America. However, obtaining a high school education isn’t free. Many of today’s high school courses require class fees, supplies or materials, and a computer with Internet access. These things the government does not supply to students so they go and buy these things. Not only that, but unbeknownst to many citizens who believe public education is free, the costs associated with public school system are included in taxes paid at the state level. Events that happen in a person’s life due to financial issues can also force them to drop out of school.

For example, if you spend too much time working rather than studying and learning or need the time that you are at school to work in order to support your family. Or you live in a bad neighborhood and join a gang because you want to belong. You may also join because your family neglects you because your father has left your mother, and she spends all her time working in order to support you. Once you join in their felonious activities, causing you to stop trying in school. There are many reasons due to financial problems that may prevent people from graduating high school. Also, this basic education can only give the majority of people a position that involves living from paycheck to paycheck.

If people want more financial flexibility, they have to go to college. But with tuition rates at the level they are at, any education beyond high school is very difficult to obtain for people, especially for immigrants, who are living off of a limited salary. Imagine living life through poor peoples’ perspectives. They have to work seventy-five plus hours a week, six days a week, between at least two different jobs. Most of that income is used just to pay off expenses and bills. It also takes about an hour total for transportation between their many jobs and home per day. Once home, they get at most eight hours of sleep. That leaves less than 4.4 hours per day to do everything else: eat, hygiene, buy groceries, pay bills, figure expenses, and spend what precious, little leisure time they have left. How can these people to spend their very limited time, money, and energy, to try to obtain a college education? Without education, life can be a very bitter cycle of financial problems, but education is something you can get. One factor that affects equality cannot be changed, unlike education, is race.

People who are a different race are looked upon as different, because the majority of the U.S. population is white. Whether we like to admit it or not, its harder to incorporate people who are different into our lives. We say that we do include minorities or other people who are different, but we really don’t treat them as equals. We wouldn’t really include them within our innermost circle of friends, nor would we invite them to ALL of our activities? Deep within our minds, it is difficult to accept someone who is different or doesn’t fit our standard of a functional citizen. So if a person is different, we tend to judge them on their appearance, action and nature, because they don’t fit ourTable 1 (Mantsios 345)Chances of Being Poor in AmericaWHITE MALE/FEMALE1 in 10WHITE FEMALE HEAD*1 in 4HISPANIC MALE/FEMALE1 in 4HISPANIC FEMALE HEAD*1 in 2BLACK MALE/FEMALE1 in 4BLACK FEMALE HEAD*1 in 2*Persons in families with female householder, no husband presentDerived from Census, 1999, op. cit., p. vi. standards of normality; this subconscious action is prejudice.

Prejudice lies within all people. It gives us a first impression of a person, consciously or subconsciously. If we don’t treat people who are different than us as equals, prejudice kicks in. This prejudice can tell us that people who are different can’t be a certain position or earn a certain wage. The main targets of this false accusation are minorities and women. They are discriminated from major positions just because they don’t fit the “ideal status,” thus making them poorer than white males with the same opportunities. (Refer to table 1) Sometimes, poor people have to take extreme measures, even crime, in order to survive.

If we look at the inmates of prisons, you are essentially looking at one of the very bottom elements of the economic hierarchy. Charles Hampden-Turner explains that not all these people have resorted to crime because they are bad people, but it was because they couldn’t live right because they were poor and had to resort to crime. These people have no skills, education, or credit to function as a citizen. They probably dropped out of school, were raised in a poor family, or were immigrants from a different country. Once they do their time and are set free, they can’t get a job. Then they go into debt and go back to jail. Not only that but they also have to pay the reparation, which is a fee for their board and food while in jail. So most inmates, right when they get out, they get back in due to their inability to earn money. The only way for these unfortunate people to better themselves is to receive an education or learn marketable skills, which is what the Delancey Street Foundation helps them do. (Charles Hampden-Turner 3)

Despite all of that, there are a few people that just get lucky when it comes to success. Horatio Alger’s story, “From Ragged Dick,” is an example. Dick saves a kid from drowning and climbs up the economical ladder from the help of a wealthy father. How many people get rich by saving a child and then being offered a position of greater income by the child’s parents? Even though it is fictional, luck and education were major factors in this story. Dick had recently learned new skills otherwise he would be unfit for his new job. There are very few of these lucky people. Most of the time, their success is only temporary, such as winning at the casino. So don’t just depend on luck to pull you out of a tough financial situation.

There are other times when people seem to have all the luck and get rich without trying very hard. But most of these people’s success had little to do with luck. It is because of family wealth. These people get rich by funding given to them by family members or by inheriting assets. Gregory Mantsios explains “[f]or those whose annual income is in six figures, economic success is due in large part to the wealth and privileges bestowed on them at birth (343).” The success of people of a wealthy background comes easier than those that don’t, which supports the idea that it takes money to make money.

Opportunity in America is not equal to everyone. To low wage people, their main problem is education. The problem with education is that not everyone can obtain it because of high costs of tuition at colleges. Even though the tuition of high school education is free, there are many of other things within high school that require money in order to succeed. People still can’t make very much money even with a high school diploma. To women and minorities, life is very unfair and it is extremely hard for them to make it to the top due to the impression how white men are supposedly put food on the dinner table. This is the year 2006 and this is how life is. It may change in the passing years, but as of right now, individual opportunity is very unfair in America.

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Serving in Florida.” Rereading America. Ed. Colombo, Gary,Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2004. 317-29.

Hampden-Turner, Charles. Sane Asylum: Inside the Delancey Street Foundation. NewYork: William Morrow and Co., 1976.

Mantsios, Gregory. “Class in America: Myths and Relalities.” Rereading America. Ed.

Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2004. 331-45Tetzlaff, Linda. “Money and Success.” Composition Lecture. Normandale CommunityCollege, Bloomington. 3 Feb. 2006.

U.S. Census Bureau. “Poverty: 2004 Highlights.” 30 August 2005. 26 April 2006.

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