The Key to the American Dream by Brandon
Brandonof Little River's entry into Varsity Tutor's April 2015 scholarship contest
- Rank:
- 0 Votes
The Key to the American Dream by Brandon - April 2015 Scholarship Essay
The ‘American Dream’ is an ideal most Americans believe in, and one that thousands across the world are aware exist. It is a national ethos of prosperity, freedom, and success. Freedom is given and success is relative, but prosperity is a part of the American Dream that is most often earned through hard work and education. Today lives an age where a high school education, though still more valuable than not, doesn’t nearly compare to that benefit of a secondary education. College is a thing more and more people decide to attend by the year, in a noble attempt to chase their dreams, to chase their own brand of the American Dream. An education offers a chance at three things: a chance of employment in an area in which a dreamer wants to be a part of rather than has to be, followed by a freedom of financial opportunity rather than financial dependence, both of which lead to the last of the three: further happiness gained from doing what one loves, along with the option of spending money freely on anything and everything else that they love.
Education provides something all people wish to have: the ability to choose a career path which they actually desire to follow. It is what will allow me to chase my personal goal of becoming an Anesthesiologist rather than that of a business owner such as my father and grandfather. Because of education I am no longer restricted to doing what either of them decided to do, or even something I am forced to do to survive. Surviving is no longer a deciding factor in my personal choice because I have been given limitless opportunity to thrive elsewhere. I no longer have to be bound by the chains of my destiny because I have been given the opportunity to forge it. Of the endless career fields to choose from today, none are beyond the reach of myself nor any other. Freedom of choice is of the most important benefits of education, and near everything else falls under it.
Another benefit of education, more so a benefit of secondary education, is the freedom of financial opportunity. This ideal is held under the first, being determined by the choice a person makes involving his or her career path. Though it is true that personal salary is determined by this choice, no one person is bound to it. They may willingly choose through proper education what career field they will be a part of, and therefore choose their own financial future. People no longer live in an age where they are destined the livelihood of their parents. Today people live without footprints laid out for them, and are offered freedoms unimagined by their ancestors.
Though not the last, the final benefit of education to be discussed is one most people only dream of: financial freedom. After one chooses his or her path and earns a pay check they deserve, they are able to spend their money as they see fit. This allows one such as myself to work toward other dreams and passions, whatever those passions may be. It is often said that money can’t buy happiness, and though this is true, money can be a useful tool to obtain things such as stability, which lets people focus less on the stresses in their life and more on the passions that will allow them to achieve happiness.
Education is more than just a word; education is a key. This key can be used to unlock the doors their dreams hide behind, but this key can only be obtained through hard work and even harder choices. The American Dream is a real thing, and more people are learning this by the day. I am of a generation forging our futures as we see them. We are no exception to the work required to reach our goals and will never succeed without it, but many students including myself are willing to put in the effort and acquire the education needed to take this key and use it to our benefit. I will achieve my own form of the American Dream, and look forward to the day I do. On that day I will owe my gratitude to none other than those who made my education possible.