Pursuing My American Dream

Oxford Dictionaries defines the American dream as “the traditional social ideals of the US, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity.” For some, the American Dream is to have a huge family and a house with a white picket fence. While this is something I would like to have one day, it is not what I would consider my American Dream. My American Dream is to have a thriving medical practice as a psychiatrist. A traumatic experience when I was seven years old is what led to this dream of mine. This experience has changed the way I see the world and therefore, changing my American Dream.

As an Arab immigrant who was raised in the United States since he was seven years old, who lived in Michigan seeing Arabs everyday and never felt like he was in a foreign country; and moving to NYC in 2015, changed the whole style of my life. NYC the tremendous city that I couldn’t find the people that I knew and that I understood nor those that understands me because of our massive cultural differences, and believes. The biggest problem is when I started school in NYC. The school system was different because in NYC they had regents, also their credit requirements were different, for that I was behind in credits and didn’t know what was the regents. Also, I came to school almost at the end of the First marking period of the second semester of freshman year.

As a first generation student, coming from parents who barely graduated high school and grandparents who didn’t finish elementary school. I am provided with multiple opportunities of being able to achieve my dreams. People come to the United States to achieve the “American Dream” with the thought of reaching success through hard work and determination. This is exactly the kind of mindset my parents had when they migrated here from Mexico.

In “When Getting a College Degree Requires Self-Exile,” New York Times writer Zaina Afarat narrates the story of Ghada Tafesh. Tafesh is a Palestinian teenager from the Gaza Strip in the Middle East who comes to America to pursue her college career. At the cost of receiving her education in America, she could not return home to Gaza for six years to avoid losing her scholarships. In her home country, she was not exposed to the many opportunities that America showed her. Although Afarat remains neutral as she highlights the difficulties many Middle Eastern students face in pursuing higher education in their home country, I believe that more Americans should recognize and appreciate the privilege they have to receive higher education domestically.

For many Arab American immigrants and their descendant’s it is often difficult to find a balance between adapting to a new culture while retaining their traditional culture. Most Arab

I was born in a middle class family in China and my parents care about me very much. Before I was even born, my farther adjusted the business hour of his clinic to make more profit by accepting more patients and my mother was a nurse who worked in my dad’s clinic, so they saved the money to send me to school and prepare to move to the U.S. Most of the members of my family already moved to the U.S. Moreover, once my aunt got her U.S. citizenship, she, as the sponsor, was able to apply for us to come. When I was 15, we finally got our immigrant visas and my parents told me we were ready for move to the America. Therefore, we sold everything we had in China we were staying at my uncle’s house in Hong Kong because we need to take the airplane from Hong Kong to Missouri, U.S. I still remember what my uncle said to me because he looked at me with a very serious face that caught my attention. “Qianxin, the America is different from China. I’ve heard people said life in the America is harder than China. However, if you work hard enough, you will get what you deserve.” The words are always in my mind. I tried to do my best in school and in everything because I want to be the person who can help my family.

An individual’s life is full of personal and professional controversies, I believe there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the question of fulfillment of one’s desires. However, answering it accurately is critical in making intelligent career choices and finding your success in life. Today, many people, including myself, immigrate to the United States of America in search of the American Dream; freedom, equality, and the opportunity to achieve their personal goals in life. However, the American dream has changed drastically, and is no longer associated only with happiness but rather refers to the dollar sign directly. Many argue that the more money you make, the happier you will be, however, on the other hand some people still stick with the famous expression “more money more problems”. From a reality perspective the statement itself is flawed and those following this chant are sure in for a big surprise. They say you should learn to be realistic

In her 1961 essay “What Has Happened to the American Dream?”, Eleanor Roosevelt stated that “no single individual and no single group has an exclusive claim to the American dream...but we have all a vision of what it is, not merely as a hope and an aspiration, but as a way of life, which we can come ever closer to attaining its ideal form if we keep our belief in its essential value”. The belief of pursuing the American dream is one that has been instilled since the formation of the country itself, and with those beliefs come those who pursue it. Unfortunately, achieving this dream is not without difficulty, and those who realize the true obstacles in front of them turn to other ways to sustain themselves in this nation. Not everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue the American dream because of social exclusion, the government prioritizing the wrong issues, and economic gaps, which has thus led to organized crime, however some say that all citizens do have the equal opportunity.

I was born and raised in the United States but my family was not born here, they came from an area south of Los Angeles, Mexico. In the border between the United States and Mexico, many immigrants have lost their lives attempting to achieve their promise dream. Many immigrants who cross the border pursue the American Dream. My family was one of the many immigrant families who attempted and fortunately succeeded in crossing over the border. My father’s family originated from Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. Many families just like mine risked their lives attempting to not only get to the border, but to cross it as well. My family did not differ much from the other immigrant families who sought to achieve economic stability and prosperity here

Many human resource departments do not acknowledge resumes anymore. In fact, many of the companies offer survival jobs instead of the jobs applicants actually apply to, therefore causing downsizing. I know many may think what is a survival job? A survival job is any job an applicant can obtain in order to put food on their tables. Housekeeping, taxi driving or car detailing, to name a few, are survival jobs that offer minimum wage or tips and no source of benefits.

When I was at the very innocent age of three, my parents decided to immigrate to the United States from Bolivia. We moved to Pasadena, TX, in hopes of pursuing the American dream. Growing up, my neighborhood was not the best environment to raise a family, however, this environment shaped me into the person I am today. My parents initially made the decision to move because my father got a job offer that was too good to decline. We were promised a house in a nice neighborhood as well as jobs for both of my parents. When we arrived after a 13-hour flight, all of the promises along with our hopes were shattered. We were taken to lower-income apartments in the middle of a sketchy neighborhood. My father’s promised job was on the night shift as a

For an immigrant, the American Dream is to achieve economic well-being and a good quality of life through hard work, entrepreneurship, and perseverance. It is the driving force behind most immigration, and its realization is the achievement dimension of the American Dream to reach to the fullest life. What is the American dream? And how can one pursue it? Does it still exist, or is it over? Carl Thomas's article “ Is the American Dream Over?,” states that the American Dream is still around and people have to work hard to achieve it or to reclaim it. Thomas's argument that the government is leading us to a path of economic downfall sheds light

The start of a new life is of no rarity amongst human beings of third world countries. In the case of my parents, fleeing their homeland of Vietnam was a necessity in order to start a new life away from a communist ruled country. A life that would be filled with freedom and opportunities to better their future. There is a belief amongst Vietnamese citizens that America is the haven to live in. A place full of opportunity, many dreams have turned into realities. A place where freedom is bestowed across all social classes. A place where immigrants journey towards to fulfill their American Dream. However, chasing the American Dream was never for my parents, it was for their two children.

As an immigrant, life was very difficult financially. With just the clothes on their backs my parents left their home country, Haiti, and came to the US in pursuit of the American Dream. They wanted a better life for my sisters and I, however, we faced many challenges growing up. It was difficult adjusting to a new country, language, and culture. My parents did not speak English nor did they have a formal education, so it was difficult finding a stable job to sustain us. We became dependent on public assistance in order to survive. We lived in a low-income, underserved area and attended low performing schools. Our family income was well below the poverty level but this did not stop me from pursuing my dreams. I was determined to not let my

I believe that being bilingual is essential for every individual, but getting on that bilingual level can be hard for someone if he comes from a different country that has different cultures and languages. I was born in Honduras, and I lived there for 14 years. I moved to US in 2014. I came to the US because I wanted to achieve the American Dream. I also believe that if I want to achieve my dreams, I must face different obstacles that will make me better as a person and will prepare me for my future . When I first arrived to the US, I didn’t think that not being able to speak English would be a big obstacle. I had a hard time in school because I did not know English. However, I learned that every obstacle can be overcome if I persevere and put effort to overcome it. Moreover, I believe that I can inspire others