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Delaney Guillou

Mr. Pace

Honors Junior English

9/30/2022

Is the American Dream truly achievable?

The “American Dream”, is a term used by many to describe life in America but is this

dream really achievable to everyone here? The idea of the “American Dream”, originally

included families with working parents, family vacations, and a good education for you and your

children. Many believe the American Dream is easily achievable if you work hard, but for many,

the hard work doesn't always pay off. The cost of living expenses and debts such as

homeownership and student loans can override one's income making it difficult to achieve the

American Dream.

Homeownership in the United States these days is a crazy expensive luxurie to have and

can be hard to achieve when you have other necessities to pay off. In an article from HUD

USER, we read, “Many first-time homebuyers have difficulty coming up with a downpayment,

overcoming regulatory burdens and student loan debt, or obtaining adequate credit.”,

(Homeownership: The American Dream). As highlighted, the cost of buying your own home

does not come easy, and most Americans currently are facing many other financial difficulties

that are holding them back as well. This is demonstrated in an article on the struggles of the need

for student loan reform. The article by Justin R. La Mort quotes, “Never before has a college

degree meant so much in competing in the global marketplace, yet never before has the financial

barriers been so great to earning that degree.”, (Generation Debt and the American Dream: The

Need for Student Loan Reform). The quote here demonstrates one of the many struggles for a
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steady financial base that can contribute to owning your own home. These quotes both highlight

the financial necessities that are holding people back from the luxurie of owning their own home.

As you can see, a good education does not grant you an easy pass into the luxuries associated

with the American dream, it rather can hold you back.

The American Dream used to be the idea that once you have made it to America, or you

were so luckily born there, you have achieved what many others cannot, although this is not

particularly true. In a poem by Branden Willington, we hear him quote, “This is America, Home

of the Brave/Home of the wealthy, rich, home of the paid”, (America In 4 Minutes). Willington is

expressing how many people see America and the expected outcome of anyone who lives here.

Although this idea that is engraved into so many people's minds is completely false. From the

same poem by Branden Willington, we hear him quote shortly after, “It’s also home of the

homeless, the hurt, the deceived and/Home of natural disasters that left families in need”,

(America In 4 Minutes). In America, the sun is not always shining and people tend to ignore that

fact and focus on the ideas that give them hope. These quotes highlight the contradictories

between the expected scene in America compared to the truth which many ignore for their own

benefit. We really need to start seeing America in all aspects, not just the happy, lucky ones, but

also the sad, dark ones that are not demonstrating the expected American Dream.

The idea that so many people have that the American Dream is achievable if you really

work hard is completely false. Many Americans can work the hardest jobs and devote many

hours of their time to their jobs but, the hardships in people's lives can override one's hard work.

People need to stop blaming others for not achieving the expected “American Dream”. Instead of

praising the lucky ones who just so happen to pay off their student debts and can afford their own

home, we need to bring light to the hardships many Americans fight each day and make the
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American Dream not possible for every American.

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Works Cited

HUD, USER. “Homeownership: The American Dream: HUD User.” Homeownership: The

American Dream | HUD USER, 13 Aug. 2018,

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-frm-asst-sec-081318.html.

La Mort , Justin R. “Generation Debt and the American Dream: The Need for Student Loan

Reform.” Harvard Law & Policy Review, 22 May 2010,

https://harvardlpr.com/online-articles/generation-debt-and-the-american-dream-the-need-

for-student-loan-reform/.

Wellington, Branden. “1st Video Poem.” 1st Video Poem, 1 Jan. 1970,

http://brandenwellington.blogspot.com/2012/11/1st-video-poem.html.
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American Dream Essay Rubric

Skill Not Foundational Proficient Advanced

Yet
Identifies a topic Appears in first Thesis establishes a
paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Thesis Comments:

Includes two or Includes multiple Includes specific,

fewer sources pieces of evidence meaningful, and
(from 4 sources) well-chosen
Some evidence that clearly relate to evidence that relates
relates to the thesis the thesis to the thesis

Includes multiple
Evidence pieces of evidence in
each body
paragraph

Comments:

Summarizes sources Explains how Explains

evidence supports well-selected points
topic sentence of of comparison
individual among sources and
paragraphs evidence and their
connection to the
Analysis Explains how thesis
evidence supports
the thesis of the
essay
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Comments:

Little connection Explains how the Clearly explains

between texts; texts/sources are relationships among
difficult for the related, though texts (how they
reader to see how points could be confirm or challenge
the texts are related more selective or each other, build on
better developed each other, provide
Synthesis differing
Includes multiple perspectives, etc.)
sources in each body
paragraph

Comments:

Some elements Heading is correctly No errors in MLA

missing or some formatted format
errors in MLA format
Pages are numbered

In-text citations are

correctly formatted

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
MLA Format double-spaced,
alphabetized, starts
on a new page

Works Cited: each

source entry is in
correct MLA format
Comments:

Shows evidence of Most quotes are All quotes are

basic proofreading correctly integrated correctly integrated
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Follows essay Shows evidence of

organization careful proofreading
Conventions
Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments: