are all americans born with the same opportunities?

Question

be very specific!
please
=]

Answer 1

every natural born american is born with the same potential and afforded the same opportunities.

Some things may come easier to some because of money or influence or how they were raised.

Its how you use those opportunites that defines you.

look at men like ford or gates or bush or lincoln or jefferson or greenspan or jobs or king jr. or me. They all come from verying back grounds and achieved greatness in there chosen fields.

Its all your choice how well you do and how high you go

Look at helen keller, she was deaf and blind.

anyone who says other wise is a victim of there own poor out look or past choices.

How high you go and how well you do has nothing to do with how rich your parents are or where your from. simply put its you and hard you want to work.

Answer 2

No, of course not. BUT the barriers are far fewer and lower in America than elsewhere, or than any earlier point in history.

The point is this -- my parents may be well-off and able to afford to give me a good education, provide special medical care if I need it, etc. They may THEMSELVES had a good education which shapes what I'm exposed to, the 'way to think' about things day in and day out. And so forth.

Clearly those are advantages which may open more opportunities to me, or open them more easily or quickly.

That sort of thing has always been true to some degree in any society, and always will be. And it's not "wrong".

And of course our natural ABILITIES may vary. I never had the same "opportunities" to be a star quarterback in the NFL as others had.... but much of that is because I simply don't have the natural TALENT to ever progress that far. (Same goes for academic achievements.)

And then there's the LUCK of timing (being at the right place at the right time... having the skill that is particularly needed right then). No one can control all of this (and would you want them to?)

But American society does not lock you INTO the class or station of you parents or peers, or circumstances of your birth. MANY who do not have these kinds of 'natural advantages', but who work hard, are able to rise to become very successful. That's because the "playing field", while not perfect, is far closer to level here than in other times and places.

So it depends on which you're focused on. NOTHING can assure we all have all the same advantages, much less the same ABILITIES. But a society CAN quite a bit about trying to make sure people compete by the same rules. And this society has done better than most in that regard.

Answer 3

Very much NO. Opportunity depends almost entirely on socioeconomic status. There is more upward mobility in most of the first world than there is in america today.

Answer 4

Pfc Perez gets the 10 points. perfectly put soldier.

Abraham Lincoln said the Constitution affords all men the oppurtunity to advance as far as their talents will take them.