For many the answer is a resounding – YES!

What exactly is the American Dream?

Is it the stereotypical:

• go to college
• get a good entry level job with a growing company
• settle down and get married
• buy a starter home with a white picket fence
• have 2.4 children
• put a Chevy in the driveway and a Coca Cola in your hand

kind of American Dream?

Or is that what we have been brainwashed to believe by the corporate marketing machine under the direction of the industrial titan elites?

For those that have pursued and successfully achieved this kind of American Dream, or some variation thereof, kudos to you. If you feel fulfilled and content with where you are in life, who am I to tell you that you haven’t achieved your version of the American Dream.

Live and let live.

But for those of you who have pursued and failed at this version of the American Dream you can take a little solace in knowing that you are not alone. If misery loves company rest assured that you’ll never be in want of fellowship.

In this post, I want to focus on one of the aspects of what I feel is a big part of the American Nightmare. I will focus on the other components in future posts, as well as what I believe is a path to help others wake up from this Nightmare and pursue the real Dream.

College: Is higher education the key to unlock greater opportunity?

We are told from the time we’re able to read and write that a college education is invaluable to achieving the American Dream.

“Invest in yourself!”

“Can you afford NOT to go to college?”

“College graduates earn 75% more on average over their lifetime than those with just a high school diploma.”

So on and so forth…

With over 1 Trillion dollars in student loan debt outstanding ($1,440,000,000,000 to be exact!) the idea of going to college has turned out to be a very costly mistake for tens of millions of Americans. For the past 4 decades, a college education has been pushed as the key to getting a well-paying career. This career is the means to a greater end of course. The end being a life of security and comfort and all the finer things that money can buy.

The sad truth is that the average college graduate starts off with just over $37K of debt before they even make their first paycheck. In a tough economy, there aren’t necessarily a plethora of hot jobs just waiting for inexperienced and idealistic young men and women to fill. What jobs that are available don’t end of being the entry level dream jobs that your high school guidance counselor dangled before your naive and impressionable eyes.

So, the college graduate ends up taking a job that doesn’t pay as well just to get their proverbial foot in the door. Now this debt saddled graduate is working a less than favorable job, making far less money than they hoped for, not feeling very secure and are very uncomfortable.

At least these graduates have a job, albeit not the dream job they were propagandized about. There are roughly 5 million people who are delinquent or in default on their student loans, indicating that at least to some degree they presumably can’t find work.

Sounds more like a nightmare than a dream

one that can’t be woken up from.

Fortunately, more and more people are waking up to the reality that this just isn’t the case. The growing popularity of apprenticeships, simple living, homesteading and good ol’ fashion entrepreneurialism is viewed as a better investment of a person’s time and money than a useless degree in baslet weaving, women’s studies, or even business management.

Next in this series I will take a look at how Marriage and children have become part of the American Nightmare.

Stay Tuned!

What’s your version of the “American Dream?” I'd like to hear from you. Sound off below in the comments section.

Thanks for Reading!

As Always,