I Want To Be An Engineer In America

The “American Dream,” according to Truslow Adams, is “being able to grow to the fullest development as man and woman.” This ideal is not based on fame or wealth, but on enough to sustain a family and live comfortably, with a steadily rising income and a decent home. It is to be believed that hard work along with the “great equalizer”, education, allows individuals the freedom to determine their own life path, regardless of their background. The idea of the American dream ensures upward social mobility for those dedicated enough to achieve this lifestyle. In spite of that, recent arguments have said that this dream is either dying, or already dead. In his book “Dream Hoarders,” Richard Reeves counters that the American Dream is in fact alive and well, but simply being hoarded by the upper middles class.

The American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.The Declaration of Independence protects your opportunity to improve your life, no matter who you are.It boldly proclaims: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.ur Founding Fathers introduced the revolutionary idea that each person's desire to pursue their idea of happiness was not self-indulgence, but a necessary driver of a prosperous society. They created a government to defend that right for everyone. The pursuit of happiness became the driver of the entrepreneurial spirit that defines the American free market economy.After the 1920s, many Presidents supported the idea of the Dream as a pursuit of material benefits. President Roosevelt outlined an Economic Bill of Rights in his 1944 State of the Union address. He defined the pursuit of happiness as decent housing, a good

Many people have come to America for adventure, opportunity, freedom, and the chance to experience the particular qualities of the American landscape. The American Dream is the idea that every United States citizen, including immigrants and residents, should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. America somewhat provides access to the American dream, it is more so the citizen who provides access to the dream for themselves. Even though they encountered many trials and tribulations, with persistence, people such as Langston Hughes in “I Too Sing America and Anzia Yezierska in “America and I” they were able to achieve their individual American Dream.

America still to this day holds on to the idea of the “American Dream”. This is rather surprising in today’s society and the ups and downs that the nation is facing. The dream in the past was more about freedom and equality. Moving through the decades, this dream has morphed into something quite different. Instead of what America means for all of its inhabitants, the nation has become more individualized. Society has moved to interpret the dream of what America can do for the one. Instead of the unified nation, America has been known for in the past, a shift has started creating an inconsistency in who can realize the dream. The myth of the “American Dream” has been hugely affected by increased materialism, the gap in economic status, and the fantasy of “rags to riches” idea.

All over the world, people hear about and strive to live the “American Dream.” In 1791 Thomas Paine, an intellectual revolutionary, believed that America was a diverse country that was accommodating for its people. In his book “Rights of Man” he says that in America “the poor are not oppressed, the rich are not privileged… and their taxes are few.” None of these ideals are completely true in America today.

The American Dream has held a special place in the hearts of patriots since the very founding of America in 1776. It has been a subject of many authors who grapple with its attainability, and is a beacon of hope gazed upon by victims of circumstance. The Dream has been interpreted by great minds in various ways, and has been deemed both an evil deception and a great promise of a better life. However, the American Dream has morphed from this promise of opportunities and second chances--in fact, it has become viewed as a cause for societal competition and the reason for decreasing happiness among the American people. As Americans attempt to “achieve their goals,” and “keep up with the Joneses,” they subject themselves to the materialistic cycle of greed. Success, and the goal of the American Dream, has been redefined. To be put simply, the American Dream is now to be richer than one’s neighbor, despite the fact that happiness--and thus, the Dream--cannot be achieved solely through wealth and material goods.

If there was a favorable circumstance under which one could endeavour all their hopes and visions, wouldn’t one pursue it? The American Dream was introduced as an interpretation to cause the people of America in the early twentieth century to work tougher. The American Dream is the opportunity to reach the goals one sets for themselves. It is about having your dream job and life one has always fantasized about. The dream is also about having freedom and equality. In the novel, “Of Mice & Men”, John Steinbeck uses symbols and motifs such as the vicious slaughtering of virtuous animals, Crooks’ rubbish bunkhouse and Lennie and George’s deception of an ideal farm to exhibit the perception that materialistic success results in happiness is a major flaw in our thinking about the American dream, and it is this thinking which makes the dream unattainable for many.

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is every person’s god given right, but what exactly is happiness? Americans have fallen in love with the idea of success, we fantasize about cars, clothes and caviar. We want to be living the high life, but the only way to access the high life is to work for it. To climb the ladder of success till you get to the summit. It’s the American Dream, but that’s just it, it’s nothing but a dream, a fantasy. The reality of life is a boring and stressful existence where many of us are just struggling to make a few dollars. It would suffice to say that the American Dream is in all actuality the American Nightmare. The American Nightmare is a pitiful existence inside a self-made

Adams defined it as a “dream of a land in which should be richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement,” and continues on to state, “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of what they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (Source 8). Yet Adams still concedes that as the world changes on a daily basis, the values and ideals of Americans can and do change. It can also be noted that Americans are expected to be different from each in capabilities, motivations and interests. These differences allow the dream to be chosen from person to person (Source 3). If the dream can be chosen by the people and with capitalism generally making money a large factor of being happy, it can be reasoned that many would make monetary wealth their

The American Dream: Is is fact or fiction? In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers set forth the idea of an American Dream by providing us with the recognizable phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock symbolizes Jay Gatsby’s “Pursuit of Happiness” in the novel, The Great Gatsby, set in the 1920s on Long Island, New York. The American Dream can be defined as “the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, not by chance” (Fontinelle, Amy). At the birth of our country in 1776, our founding fathers introduced the American Dream as a personal desire to pursue happiness; however, the pursuit of happiness was not intended to promote self-indulgence, rather to act as a catalyst to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. As our country has changed, the idea of the American Dream, in some cases, has evolved into the pursuit of one’s own indulgences such as material gain regardless of the consequences.

The idea of the American Dream has been around since America was founded, but until 1933, it was not put into words. In the article American Faces 1933’s Realities, by James Truslow Adams, he defines the American Dream as “ ...a vision of a better, deeper, richer life for every individual, regardless of the position in society which he or she may occupy by the accident of birth” (1). The American Dream does not have to be described as having copious amounts of wealth. To some, it is only a vision of a better life for themselves and their families.

Many years ago today, the United States of America was the prime example of prosperity and opportunity. It established America with the idea that its citizens would be guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, it is true that people have liberties and are free to pursue happiness. However, in recent years, in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Unemployment, growing economy inequality, and medical care have skyrocketed. Despite the odds, the American Dream is still a goal that many people strive for and hope to reach. In fact, an essay written by Brandon King, The American Dream: Dead, Alive or on Hold? He says, “the American dream is a dream in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with the opportunity for each according to his/her ability and achievement…” (King 610-611). Therefore, the problem with the American Dream lies not within the dream itself, but within the means people pursue to attain this dream.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Independence Hall Association, 2011).” This exert from The Declaration of Independence provides a look on America and how life is meant to be lived; with all individuals having an equal right to exist. This existence includes life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This beacons to one vital idea, one main vision, which creates a fundamental dream. This dream is the American Dream, and is the ideology that life should be richer, fuller, and more sustainable for the common man. The idea influences viewpoints that anything can be

Not only are workers oppressed, but because of false consciousness they think that the more they work, the more they achieve; when in reality, working towards prosperity leads to less time to enjoy what they worked for. This false consciousness prevents people from seeing that they cannot truly achieve the “American Dream” because of the nature of their social and economical situation.

I did not always want to be an engineer. But I have always had a passion for science. From a very young age I was always interested in finding out how this universe worked. I was also very interested in mathematics. I used to get really high marks in the subjects related to science and math. I also liked technology and I would spend a lot of time on the internet learning about how machines like cars and helicopters worked. Back then I studied these stuff just out of curiosity. I did not use to think about what I would do when I grow up. But, after I graduated High School, I became really concerned about what I would do with my life. For a long time I did not have a definitive answer to that question. After thinking about what my passions and talents are and what are the things I want out of my life, I decided to apply for an engineering degree.