American Dream Shifts for Many Teens

Eli Contreras’ parents came from Mexico to the U.S. for better educational opportunities for themselves and for their kids. Contreras fulfilled his parents’ dreams by graduating from the University of California Berkeley, becoming a teacher and, beginning this fall, attending law school at the University of California Hastings.

For many immigrant families, the dream of financial stability was a reason to leave their native land. As the gap between the middle class and the rich becomes smaller, young people’s version of the American Dream has veered from their parents. Increased access to technology and the glamorization of fame contributed to this change.

“The American Dream is to have a choice financially and educationally,” said Contreras.

During the 1900s the American Dream was “a postcard image,” said Dax-Devlon Ross, a senior training specialist at the Posse Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides scholarship opportunities to youth of color. “It was then the idea that you can have one earning [family member]- a father making enough money to move his family to a nice house in the suburbs.”

This dream began to disintegrate in the 60s when activists began to focus more on equality than opportunity.

Computers and media play a big role in the way today’s youth see their future. They want to be the next Lebron James because of the big house, the fancy cars and clothes.

“Now it’s more of a focus on success and monetary gain,” Contreras reflected. 

“They are not going to be Lebron, they aren’t going to be Little Wayne, because there is only one little Wayne, one Lebron and ultimately one them,” said Ross.

The material gain and wealth that celebrities project makes some teens want decadence, want instant fame; their dream becomes less about education and being financially stable.

“I don’t really know what my American Dream is, or what it’s supposed to be,” said Petterson Beausajour, 18, the son of immigrants from Haiti. He attends Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn.

Educators are the first to see the change in the American Dream, through observations of their students.

 â€œMy first year of teaching, I had students come up to me and say that they wanted to be, a Victoria Secret model, a baseball player, a surgeon. Students that were more conscious of their grades said that they wanted to be broadcast journalist, and teachers,” Contreras commented.

“It’s an idea of something for nothing,” said Ross. “It’s like society makes you think you have to want it, and that’s what you need, and if you don’t have it [wealth] something is wrong with you.”