Should the pursuit of the American Dream be a privilege or a right? Wonderful Wally: Now it is said that its a right to pursue the American Dream. That is the right to pursue happiness and Prosperity. However things needed in which to get there are often restricted and considered a privilege that most do not deserve. At the least we should be given the right to a fair education and a job for which we can pursue economic prosperity. Now a company might want standards in its people but we should also be giving people a chance to compete or make them at the least make them competent enough to compete. In the past a proper education was given only to those who could afford it and it seems the system is deteriorating and now that is the case today. We say people NEED college or Secondary Education but people are often expected to foot that bill by themselves or we expect their parents to pay it. In HS we push towards College but do not give anyone any sort of STEM or concrete skills that could possibly get them a job without going to college. We also do not provide driving training as we did before and expect parents to pay 100s to send children to driving school or else to teach them by themselves. Depending on the parent might be more or less qualified to actually teach it. If say a child is not lucky enough to have parents to provide a vehicle for testing or else don't get a job early enough will not be able to pay for driving school themselves. The system is slowly being more and more stacked against those who are not terribly well off and those who don't have parents who actually love them. Why is it that only those with money and decent parents deserve to pursue happiness? Why should we have 1000s competing for the same job paying minimum wage? Why not create programs and education systems that preps workers for these job and have systems to place people in jobs at 18? Apposed to dropping them off at the end and saying "Well good luck! Hopefully you are not homeless".  lupedediablo: Rampant greed and inequity of wealth is the inevitable result of corporate capitalism... In a population as burgeoning as ours, adopting progressive forms of socialism alongside grassroots small business based free enterprise is the only way to avoid such extreme economic disparity  prof351: Ya know I wasn't given much financially growing up. We were on the low end of the economy. I remember my parents taking our piggy bank money to buy food. I started working on our farm/dairy when I was 7. Mostly driving tractor, feeding cattle and moving irrigation pipe. When I was in the 5th grade I got a paper route and made my own money. I did that for 4 years. Then as I got older I found other work, I umpired little league, painted houses etc. I also got very good grades, they wanted me to skip the 7th grade but I was already pretty young relative to my classmates. If I'd skipped I'd have been 16 when I graduated from high school. I got a scholarship to play basketball at a small college plus I took a part time job while I was in college. I wasn't really ready for college and I dropped out and went in the Air Force (Vietnam era). Once I got out of the USAF I went back to school on the GI bill as well as worked part time to make ends meet. I graduated with no debt. Later I went back and got my MBA. I had about 10k in the bank and traded stocks to pay for my MBA. Again I graduated with no debt. One of my points is that I didn't get any assistance I didn't earn myself. It seems to me that lots of people these days don't view education as an opportunity to improve themselves as much as they seem to assume that by "jumping through the hoop" someone owes them a good job. You have to make yourself a valuable commodity to earn good money not just say "oh here.. see I got a degree. At one point I taught at a Community College, I loved it, but it was only meant to temporary to pay the bills while I was looking for the right opportunity. I loved teaching, kids were great. You knew which ones were doing what was necessary to "get by" and which ones you'd hire in a heart beat down the road. I actually had one student look me up 8 years later and take me out to lunch as a thank you. I worked hard for those kids. To me the original poster seems to think not enough was given to him/her in school. I believe it was there all along, it was/is just a matter of applying one's self and taking the best education you can create for yourself.  Warrior Goddess: my father had money and if my intended husband hadnt insisted on my going to college i wouldnt have had an education at all i being female had worth only for two things. I took drivers ed in college i had no debt either. But i do believe parents are suppose to do more than just feed cloth and provide shelter. Protect them keep them safe give them the best tools they can for an education this means heloing with their school work making sure they do their home work. However, in rural America i understand the need for children to be on hand to help on the farm. and that is a great learning experience in its self prof351: In my family we all worked. And I can say that I'm very comfortably retired. I stay physically active, work out 2 days a week, golf a couple days, play duplicate bride a couple days, garden, manage my investments and help my kids learn about becoming more secure with life and all the wonders it has to offer. Life is good.. prof351: For me loving what I'm doing is the key to being happy. I hope you love the work you're going to be doing. I makes like so much better. Good luck Warrior Goddess: i loved my job i just cpuldnt handle the stress any more and yeah i will l9ve my job Warrior Goddess: Im going to be a consultant for hotels. Give my opinion on giving disabled guests a better environment Warrior Goddess: i was a psychologist working with domestic violence victims now im using psychology to help kind of give insight to why some guests may commit suicide in their suites prof351: That's definitly needed. I noticed a travel agency the other day that focuses on providing services to disabled travelers. I thought that was pretty cool. I traveled for business for about 30 years. I've spent plenty of nights in hotels around this country. Only state I've not been to is West Virginia prof351: I have to tell you my biggest complaints centered around getting bored with nothing to do in the evenings. You can only watch so much boring tv, workout in an empty gym or sit and have a beer with a bartender in the hotel bar. With him/her watching the clock for closing time so they can go home. prof351: I took to going to art galleries when I was in bigger cities. I liked getting to where the locals were and learning about the area rather than listen to some sales rep in a hotel bar Warrior Goddess: yeah i am hoping maybe the hotels will look into providing transportation to events or maybe host mini cincerts or some thing. And also maybe offering video game consoles with a good selection of games prof351: Time for me to crash... I've got to get up in 7 hours and go kick some butt on the golf course. Got a guy I'm playing tomorrow that wants to play for money...… Really doesn't matter to me so much whether I win or lose, I just want to play to my expectations prof351: Also, it's a really big difference between men and women in hotels. Women tend to stay in the room, men tend to get out more. I think it's a security issue for women. That is truly a sad state of things. Ok... night Warrior Goddess: women i think i programed to fear things from the media and family and friends. My friends are tryimg to talk me out of taking this job since ill primarily be working at night Warrior Goddess: My husband will be with me when i stay in the hotels but when im just going in to look at the places he wont be so they think some bad will happen but everything that could happen has already happened except death | Politics Chat Room 61 People Chatting Similar Conversations |