AMC Blog - Lycée Mona Ozouf de Ploërmel

If the American Dream is the promise that anyone can make it with enough hard work, then why does the zip code you were born into remain the strongest predictor of your future wealth? Is the 'Dream' a blueprint for success, or has it become a ghost we’re all chasing?

American dream is in the fact : that anyone who lives in USA by their labor, their courage and their determination, can become prosperous. Majority of the people who think that, are not from the USA, most live in country with a perfect vision of America like it is a promised land. Actually, This belief underlies the assumption of abundant opportunity and meritocracy. New immigrants often believe they have arrived in a land of opportunity, with fair rules that allow for advancement and success.

According to ABC NEWS: In a dispiriting sign of the times, barely more than a quarter of Americans say the American dream still holds true, about half as many as said so 13 years ago.Defined as "if you work hard you'll get ahead," just 27% in a new ABC News/Ipsos poll say the American dream still holds, down sharply from 50% when the question first was asked in 2010. Eighteen percent now say it never held true, up from 4%.The rest, 52%, say the promise used to hold true but no longer does, up 9 points. Taken together, 69% say the American dream does not hold true today, up 22 points. And that's in comparison to a poll taken in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

In this caricature, KAL illustrates the American Dream as an escalator designed to carry people upward toward success. On the left, a bright, welcoming sign with the American flag encourages people to start their journey. However, the artist uses irony to show that this journey is now dangerous and broken. The escalator is built on a stone bridge that has collapsed in the middle, leaving a giant gap. While people at the bottom are hopeful, those in the middle are staring at the broken path, unable to move forward. This suggests that upward mobility is no longer a smooth process; instead, the "system" is failing, and it is now impossible for many ordinary people to reach the top.

In conclusion, the American Dream is increasingly defined by the paradox of the "bootstrap" mentality. While the nation’s ethos is built on the belief that anyone can lift themselves up by their own bootstraps, modern economic realities suggest that the straps themselves are fraying. The ideal of upward mobility once seen as an inevitable result of grit and determination now faces a crisis.

Rising inequality and the soaring costs of essential "ladders," such as education and housing, have made the climb significantly steeper for those starting at the bottom. Ultimately, the belief in the American Dream remains a powerful cultural engine, but for it to stay viable, the focus must shift. To ensure that upward mobility is more than just a mythic ideal, the U.S. must ensure that every individual has a firm place to stand and boots strong enough to make the climb possible.