The United States is the land of opportunity, but why doesn’t everyone have equal opportunities?
I came up with this question because I am interested in problems that society has created, especially when it is hypocritical, ironic, and not true in my opinion. Many people preach about how in the United States everyone has the same amount of opportunities, yet there are homeless people on the street at the same time that there is people with six figure incomes or more. In my Intro to Social Work class, we recently watched one of my favorite documentaries “Inequality for All” which I have already watched a number of times. Although the documentary was made in 2013, it is still very relevant today. The rich are continuing to get richer, while the poor are getting more poor. Rich are able to accumulate money at a fast rate because they inherit money from their family and able to start saving up sooner than those who are born into a lower class family.
Throughout this semester I have definitely seen a lot of parallels and overlaps between my classes. Social Work is mainly based on helping those in need, which is what I want to do in the future. Additionally, because I am currently taking my first sociology class, Social Class and Inequality, I have begun thinking about society as a whole and looking at how society has gotten to the place it has and the problems created as a result. Society is the reason why the income inequality gap is so wide and keeps getting bigger. To create my major I plan on combining business and social work along with sociology.
For my senior project in high school , my topic was on homelessness and I had the opportunity to volunteer at a homeless shelter which I really enjoyed doing. There are many people that believe that it is the fault of the person that they are now homeless. I wrote my paper on the causes and the solutions of homelessness. There is not just one cause, but multiple causes that often intertwine and overlap. I believe it is not only important to recognize that there is a problem but it is also important to find solutions to the problem.
Another reason for why everyone does not have equal opportunities is due to how the government works. I personally think it is really unfortunate that a majority of the homeless population are veterans. The government listens to the powerful people, which are the people with money because they are the ones who are able to contribute to their political campaigns. Therefore, politicians make sure to do everything to avoid upsetting the upper class even if it means the lower classes get the lower end of the stick. At times the government seems to be a form of business, and most businesses only care about economic profit. Money equals opportunity, and because money is not equally distributed, opportunity is not equal for everyone.
