Page 48 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 48
šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
Such beliefs in equal opportunity or a level playing field, however,
has always run up against the US’s entrenched system of inherent priv-
ileges and advantages for wealthy whites.4 Dalton Conley, for example,
has shown that the wealth gap between white and black households is the
single biggest contributor to black-white inequality (Conley, 1999). Ac-
cording to the Pew Research Center, the median wealth of white house-
holds was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013. It was
eight times greater in 2010. When compared to Hispanic households in
2013, the median wealth of white households is more than 10 times bigger
(Kochhar & Fry, 2014).
What is important for our purposes here is that the rhetoric of the
American Dream is somehow able to fuse all these various different no-
tions of equal opportunity, meritocracy, and inequality into an amalga-
mated promise of success even though the data clearly indicates the exist-
ence of a system that is biased in favor of affluent whites. In fact, belief in
the Dream is so strong that people routinely claim that while it is true that
not everyone will succeed, everyone has a chance to succeed in America.
But we all know well that things are not quite as simple as that. In a pure
meritocracy, the playing field would be genuinely level. In other words,
anyone willing to work hard would be able to do so and would, in the pro-
cess, achieve some kind of success – often interpreted as upward mobili-
ty. However, it turns out, upward mobility is extremely highly correlated
with education and access to education is anything but equally distribut-
ed in the US. I highlight some of the major features of these inequalities
in the next section.
Education and Equal Opportunity
The Pew Research Center reported in 2016 that a college degree is becom-
ing increasingly “the key to financial well-being.”5 For example, millen-
nial college graduates who work full time earn about $17,500 more an-
nually than their peers who only hold a high school diploma.6 However,
even though college graduation rates have increased for all racial and eth-
4 See, for example, the work of a range of critical race theorists: West (1993), Guinier & Tor-
res (2002), Delgado & Stefancic (eds.) (2001). Also see, Conley (1999) and McIntosh (1989).
5 Pew Research Center, “Social & Demographic Trends,” June 27, 2016, http://www.pewso-
cialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/. However,
importantly, the Pew Mobility Project also reports that if you were born rich, you were
2.5 times more likely than others to remain rich even if you did not bother to go to college
(O’Brien 2013).
6 Pew Research Center, “Social and Demographic Trends: The Rising Cost of Not Going
to College,” February 11, 2014, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-
cost-of-not-going-to-college/.
46
Such beliefs in equal opportunity or a level playing field, however,
has always run up against the US’s entrenched system of inherent priv-
ileges and advantages for wealthy whites.4 Dalton Conley, for example,
has shown that the wealth gap between white and black households is the
single biggest contributor to black-white inequality (Conley, 1999). Ac-
cording to the Pew Research Center, the median wealth of white house-
holds was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013. It was
eight times greater in 2010. When compared to Hispanic households in
2013, the median wealth of white households is more than 10 times bigger
(Kochhar & Fry, 2014).
What is important for our purposes here is that the rhetoric of the
American Dream is somehow able to fuse all these various different no-
tions of equal opportunity, meritocracy, and inequality into an amalga-
mated promise of success even though the data clearly indicates the exist-
ence of a system that is biased in favor of affluent whites. In fact, belief in
the Dream is so strong that people routinely claim that while it is true that
not everyone will succeed, everyone has a chance to succeed in America.
But we all know well that things are not quite as simple as that. In a pure
meritocracy, the playing field would be genuinely level. In other words,
anyone willing to work hard would be able to do so and would, in the pro-
cess, achieve some kind of success – often interpreted as upward mobili-
ty. However, it turns out, upward mobility is extremely highly correlated
with education and access to education is anything but equally distribut-
ed in the US. I highlight some of the major features of these inequalities
in the next section.
Education and Equal Opportunity
The Pew Research Center reported in 2016 that a college degree is becom-
ing increasingly “the key to financial well-being.”5 For example, millen-
nial college graduates who work full time earn about $17,500 more an-
nually than their peers who only hold a high school diploma.6 However,
even though college graduation rates have increased for all racial and eth-
4 See, for example, the work of a range of critical race theorists: West (1993), Guinier & Tor-
res (2002), Delgado & Stefancic (eds.) (2001). Also see, Conley (1999) and McIntosh (1989).
5 Pew Research Center, “Social & Demographic Trends,” June 27, 2016, http://www.pewso-
cialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/. However,
importantly, the Pew Mobility Project also reports that if you were born rich, you were
2.5 times more likely than others to remain rich even if you did not bother to go to college
(O’Brien 2013).
6 Pew Research Center, “Social and Demographic Trends: The Rising Cost of Not Going
to College,” February 11, 2014, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-
cost-of-not-going-to-college/.
46
