1A
Argument
Assignment: Using evidence from the essays in your textbook, make an argument concerning the potential for Americans to achieve success (“the American Dream”) through education.
The Alger Myth
The Horatio Alger myth is one of the oldest myths in the history of the United
States of America. Horatio Alger was a 19th century author who wrote short stories
that all had the same universal theme: a young man rising from a poor childhood
to become a successful adult. Alger’s stories were enormously popular
during his time and continue to be so today with the term “Alger Myth”
become a household saying. The popularity of Alger’s stories is not surprising
when one considers America has consistently pushed the notion that anyone can
achieve success if they work hard. Every child in America is told at some point
in their life that they can be anything they want to be. This myth is as much
a part of American culture as apple pie or baseball.
The “Alger Myth” provides hope for everyone who isn’t raised
in a wealthy environment. [Logical transition needed here such as
“Yet,”] The poverty level in America is absurdly high
and produces a large group of children who grow up in an environment where everybody
is struggling to get by on a day to day basis. These children have no actual
tangible evidence that somebody from their neighborhood can achieve the type
of success they dream of. The only hope they have comes from the “Alger
Myth” or other such fables that describe rags to riches stories. The “Alger
Myth” is thus a useful tool for the American upper-class, in the sense
that it gives the lower-class a hope for their future and in the process helps
to prevent any attempt by the lower-class to overthrow the current economic
system, which produces this huge disparity between the rich and poor. [Good.
This effectively politicizes and enlarges the issue.] This would
almost be an acceptable practice if the “Alger Myth” was true and
everyone did have a chance to succeed regardless of race, sex, or affluence.
[Again, emphasize the contrast with a transition: “But,” ] The
“Alger Myth”, like many popular American myths, is in fact a fallacy
as the facts simply show there is no evidence to support an equal playing field
for every American.
The poverty level is simply too high for the “Alger Myth” to be
anything other than a fairytale. Gregory Mantsios provides many statistics to
support this including the fact that “a total of 14 percent of the American
population – that is, one of every seven – live below the government’s
official poverty line (calculated in 1996 at $7,992 for an individual and $16,209
for a family of four)” (Rereading America 321). Those in favor of the
“Alger Myth” would tell these people that if they worked harder
they would eventually achieve the success they desire. That type of logic is
quite frankly asinine, as many of the people below the poverty level are working
two or three jobs and doing everything they possibly can to provide for themselves
and their family. They work just as hard if not harder than anybody in the upper-class
and are reduced to living in poor conditions with little to no chance of every
escaping the situation they are in. These people work themselves to death and
instead of attaining the American dream, they are told to work even harder,
while they see nepotism promote less qualified and lazier employees into the
position they had worked so hard to achieve. Mantsios goes on to point out the
sad reality that “the wealthiest 20 percent of the American population
holds 85 percent of the total household wealth in the country” (Rereading
America 320). There simply isn’t any evidence to support that working
hard will lead to upward mobility when there is only 15 percent of the wealth
left for 80 percent of the country. [Good pacing in gradually submitting
data to the contrary.]
The “Alger Myth” is even more of a fallacy if you are non-white
or a woman. Mantsios provides the statistics that back this up. His statistics
show that the chance of being poor in America is “one in eleven for white
men and women, one in four for white female head of households, one in three
for Hispanic men and women, one in two for Hispanic female head of households,
one of three for black men and women, and one in two for black female head of
households” (Rereading America 333). The “Alger Myth” sounds
great if you are an affluent white male. If you are anything else, the “Alger
Myth” may sound great but it simply isn’t grounded in reality.
Harlon L. Dalton, who is one of the biggest opponents of the “Alger
Myth,” offers up the typical response from proponents of the “Alger
Myth” when given these numbers: “All it takes to make it in America
is initiative, hard work, persistence, and pluck. After all, just look at Colin
Powell” (Rereading America 315). The thought process is obviously that
if Colin Powell can make it, so can anyone else, but that simply isn’t
true. Colin Powell is the exception, not the rule. There is obviously going
to be a group of people from the lower class and minorities in powerful positions.
Colin Powell gives the upper-class their token minority that they can point
to whenever somebody questions the economic system that oppresses those that
aren’t white and born into affluence. [Effective level of
assertion here.] The twenty percent controlling all the money
in America didn’t get where they are today because they were unintelligent.
They are obviously very intelligent and the fact that they put people like Colin
Powell in power proves their intelligence. Unfortunately it doesn’t prove
that the “Alger Myth” is the truth, but it does placate some opponents
of the “Alger Myth” and in the process helps prevent the lower-class
from ever reaching their dreams. [Good – You present rationales
as to why these strategies are used.]
At first glance, Stephen Cruz would seem like the poster boy for the “Alger
Myth.” His parents came to America from Mexico and group up well below
the poverty level. Cruz didn’t give up however and worked hard to better
his position in life. He went to college and got into the business world. Cruz
quickly rose to a position of prominence in every company he worked at, but
began to see he wasn’t being treated the same as people who were supposedly
his equals: “My office was glass-enclosed, while all the other offices
were enclosed so you couldn’t see into them. I was the visible man”
(Rereading America 336). Cruz was treated similar to Powell in the sense that
he was the token minority. He began to question this himself: “I started
asking: Why weren’t we hiring more minorities? I realized I was the only
one in a management position” (Rereading America 336). Stephen Cruz seemed
to be the perfect case of the “Alger Myth” working to perfection
with a poor minority rising to the level of management in a major company. However,
he soon found out that even if a minority somehow did accomplish their goals
and obtain their dream job, they were still treated differently. Cruz became
increasing dissatisfied with this double standard and quit the business world
to become a small farmer. Cruz provesthat even the exceptions to the “Alger
Myth” that are given token jobs to quiet the masses aren’t really
given the same opportunity to succeed as those already in the upper-class.
[Good – you explain the value of your Cruz example.]
The majority of Americans believe in the “Alger Myth” because quite frankly the “Alger Myth” is what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution promised. The United States of America was supposed to be a country where every man and woman was treated equally. Regrettably the “Alger Myth” is nothing more than a false myth that in many ways does more harm to the lower-class than good.
Instructor end comment:
[Outstanding mixture of research and narrative argumentation. Very good (and consistent) narrative set ups, signifiers, and closings. **Side note: As Mantsios and Dalton point out, it’s good to have faith, but that faith should not be so blind, uninformed and unaware. I’m personally baffled how you can put a flashlight on the numbers and strategies used, yet all some people see is a beautiful forest – and no trees.]