The Future Dream For America’s Youth
This past weekend, I found myself discussing my future life with my girlfriend in the back of a brewery in Lexington, Kentucky. We discussed dream jobs, desired living locations, investments etc. Of all these topics, there was one topic that caught my attention. That topic was children. The thought of children has been a topic that has fascinated me over the last year or so. When I think of children, I contemplate the many challenges parents of the 21st Century are presented. From financial obligations to social expression — these challenges weigh in on my decision to have children. However, life in America presents unique challenges for current and future parents. America has left itself to the mercy of a predatory capitalistic system that protects no one except the elites who control it. This uncontrolled system has produced issues in safety, lack of societal investments, a breakdown in education and a chaotic healthcare system. These issues, combined with the lack of will by the American government and people to fix them, have caused me to question whether I would want to start a family in this country.
Raising children in my home country would have obvious benefits. Close proximity to relatives, economic possibilities and a sense of familiarity are benefits which come to mind. But, are these benefits worth it? For the last few years, I have observed the direction of this country. It’s one thing to evaluate the current problems of a society, yet, it’s another thing to evaluate its trajectory. What I have come to notice is worsening tension between the population, an economy of uncertainty and a government that is becoming more partisan by the day. These conditions lead me to believe that the country is on a gradual decline.
The various issues and conditions mentioned prompted me to do hours of research and traveling within the last two years. I became inspired by learning from other cultures and seeing life outside of the US. Prior to traveling outside the United States for the first time, I never considered living in another country. This past year I visited Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The experience was insightful and eye opening. I observed aspects from each nation’s cultures that I wished to adopt within my life. But I also discovered many qualities in America that I took for granted. Nonetheless, the experience taught me that the world was huge, diverse, sophisticated and interconnected. The lessons learned from my first international voyage left me with a question — why limit myself to a single place?
If I wish to not limit myself to a single place I had to ask myself an additional question — what are the qualities that I want in a place? When I think of this question I cannot afford to just think of myself. I need to think of a place suitable for a potential partner and children, of course. What I want in a place is economic mobility, a reduction in debt entities, great healthcare and public investments. I want to live in a place that provides my family a sense of fulfillment and purpose. When I observe American living, I hardly see this standard. This culture is centered around immense consumerism, production speed and profit that has left Americans depressed, lonely and addicted to legal and illegal products. The negatives of the current culture can be seen in the dynamics of the American Family. Children grow up with parents that are too busy for them. Parents are mentally and physically exhausted by the demands of their jobs. To fill this void, kids are given electronics while adults consume whatever is marketed to them to alleviate the pressures of their lives. All of this leads to a lack of time spent cultivating meaning within one’s life.
In addition to fulfillment, there are more obvious ways in which our society is being ravaged by immense consumerism and predatory capitalism. Our inability to separate profiting organizations such as the NRA from our government has impacted this nation’s safety. Nearly every week I receive a notification regarding a shooting in a public space. The country’s public infrastructure is both outdated and faulty. To put our infrastructural crisis into perspective the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US infracture a D+ grade in 2017. The country received the same grade in 2013. We have an educational model that relies on methods from the industrial era. The US has a college debt crisis that totals $1.5 tillion. From the most recent PISA results, the country’s students rank 38th out of 71 in mathematics and 24th in science. We currently have no plans to combat a growing climate epidemic that is soon to become a major global threat. I do not say all of this to tear my country down. I do, however, wish to illustrate the point that we are not taking the development of our country seriously.
As America retreats into isolation, other countries are continuing their own global initiatives. Other countries are investing in their youth through education. Students from various European countries are now bi and tri-lingual with minimal educational debt. Students from Asian countries are rapidly excelling in fields of math, science and technology which sets them up to be the top researchers, scientists, doctors and thinkers of our future. Of all the problems discussed, I believe the lack of investment in its youth is America’s worst issue. This issue will make it harder for future Americans to compete in a global economy, and solve complex issues. This will increase the daily extremities of stress and anxiety we see present in the lives of American families today. This is not what I want for my future family.
I want to see my country succeed. I genuinely care for America. However, I do not believe America cares enough for itself and I am highly skeptical of its future. I have a dream of economic mobility, peace and prosperity for my future family. My parents and grandparents would talk to me about this dream and they coined it the “American Dream”. I believe the “American Dream” of yesterday is tomorrow’s “Global Dream”. America’s youth will see their country as an option as opposed to the option for economic mobility and prosperity for their future families.
