Does everyone in the US have the opportunity to be successful in life, Why or Why not?

Question

This is a follow up - I recently asked a question about life being fair, and had some pretty decent responses. The most prevalent of which was to the extent that: Life is not fair, but everyone should have the same opportunity. Given this day and age, I am looking for reasons that everyone does not have an equal playing field regarding opportunity to be successful. What does personal responsibility and being responsible for the consequences of one's decisions have to do with this subject?

Answer 1

Everybody, except those with developmental or emotional or mental disorders, has AN opportuninty to be successful in life. Certainly not all opportunities will be equal, because that's not realistic.

However, people do have a minimum opportunity. First, they have the opportunity to go to school. If they make the effort there, they can achieve success. They have the opportunity to go to work, where hard work and diligence is usually recognized and rewarded. One can develop athletic or entertainment skills. One can start a business.

All these are opportunities for success. But they all require commitment and work. And all can be derailed by bad decisions. I'm not saying that it's not harder for some than others, I'm not saying that a poor person does not have a harder struggle than others, but I am saying the opportunities exist.

Of course, it should be obvious that the higher the socioeconomic station one is born into, the more and better opportunities exist, but that's how it is, and it in no way prevents others from taking advantages of what opportunities exist for them. It's not just money that gives one different opportunities, but one's culture, one's family, one's genetics, personal motivation and drive, etc. These can never be equalized.

So, the playing field will never be equal, and it would be harmful to society to try to make it so. The best we should strive for is to get everyone some minimum level opportunity to succeed. I don't know what that level is. Nor can I say that government can affect it much beyond what it is doing today.

Answer 2

I would say that everyone when they are born does have an equal opportunity to a successful life. But lifestyle after birth does affect the possibilities of someone being successful and I would have to say the answer to your question is the everyone does not have the opportunity to be successful in life.

In addition to lifestyle other factors would be education, psychological makeup(does one have the drove to succeed), and one be given the opportunity. If one does not get that "break" then they might not become successful.

There are a lot of factors that have to fall in place and not everyone is given the opportunity.

Answer 3

No, not everyone has an opportunity, but everyone SHOULD have an opportunity. Those who are raised by college graduates, ttend to go to college. Those raised in the ghetto tend to stay in the ghetto. If most of your day is spent trying to figure out how to get to school and back without being shot, you tend to be a bit distracted form your history lesson for the day. Those who perservere in the face of adversity do it by creating opportunity, which takes a great deal more effort than having your parents buy your way into school, jobs, etc...Now, once you turn 18, you have a choice. I believe that we need to spend a great deal of effort on inner city schooling, and a great deal less on welfare for those over the age of 18. Personal responsibiltiy starts at the age of majority. Before then, you have little choice.

Answer 4

I consider "fair" to be a meritocracy - as in, the guys I grew up with who partied all weekend and smoked pot in the woods after school while I studied all make a fraction of what I make twenty years later, and that's entirely fair.

Is that the explanation for everything in the US? Of course not. But it's more so here than anywhere else, and it's more so here than it used to be. Absolute economic mobility is RISING, not falling. Your ability to increase your real income is increasing - I know this because there IS data on the extent to which people actually do increase their real incomes and that's what it shows. Krugman likes to play shell games by comparing most people to Bill Gates -- if your net worth has increased by 200% since the mid-1970s, that somehow doesn't count just because Bill Gates' net worth has increased by 2000%. Clever but transparent.

There is no "I believe" this or that. The BLS numbers are clear - you don't go from "rages to riches" in a generation any more than you ever did in the US, but you go from Corian to granite in a generation - heck, in a decade - faster than was the case a generation ago, and tens of millions of people have done it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1229294/posts

http://www.nytimes.com/specials/downsize/21cox.html

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1988/05/art1full.pdf

http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/el97-07.html#winners

http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/1999p/ar95.html

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/25/pf/record_millionaires/index.htm?cnn=yes

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/news/economy/millionaire_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/?cnn=yes

Answer 5

No.....I do not believe it is a fair playing field in the US. Social status and nepotism would be just 2 of the factors sited in my opinion. Yes there are the "Rags To Riches" stories, but in respect to the general masses.....again I say NO.

Answer 6

Yes, everyone in America has the same chance at being successful. All they have to do is get up, and go to work everyday. If they CHOSE NOT to do that, then the CHOSE not to be successful