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My understanding of the American Dream is that anyone can do what they want or even achieve anything they would want. If you work for what you want then you are achieving the american dream. I even believe that people who give back to others who have gave to them is the American Dream. Living a life that is happy is the American Dream because if you are living a happy life then what else would you want. It doesn't have to be living in some big mansion or having all these nice cars it could just be living a happy life, raising a couple kids.

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Growing old with my husband and raising kids is something that is a part of my American Dream. If I can live a happy life with them then what else would I want in life.

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My parents have given me a lot growing up like money, a house to sleep in, clothes, food, etc... My goal is when I grow up and get a good job I would love to give back to them and everyone else who has helped me up.

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It has been a goal of mine to become an mechanical engineer and work for a good company. Achieving this will allow me to give back to other and not worry about finances.

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The person I decided to interview was my dad. My dad's definition of the American Dream is to work hard, be successful, and have the freedom to live a comfortable life. Growing up my dad was planning on becoming a lawyer but instead he became a police officer. He said that the people who influenced his American Dream were his family; immediate and extended family. My dad feels that he has achieved his American Dream because he is successful and his children are good contributors to society which is really important. He says that its achievable if you work hard for it and don't let obstacles get in your way. His advice to me was to "work hard, stay disciplined, and don't make excuses.

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 The American Dream Is Alive and Well (Published 2019) - Samuel Abrams

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The Article not only talk about how the American Dream is alive and well but how different people have their own dreams. The American Dream is different for everyone which is what i love about this article. In the article is says "The data also show that most Americans believe themselves to be achieving this version of the American dream." This shows everyone can achieve the American Dream because it is special to you. Yes, you may have a similar dream to someone but you have different obstacles along the way. Anything that is thrown at you you can get through it if you work hard and make the right decisions.

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Jairo, Miami: "My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today. An America where all children can have that opportunity to dream and succeed." Credit... Ian Brown, from "American Dreams"

Opinion
Most people in this country say that they are living it - but what they mean by the phrase might surprise you.

Jairo, Miami: "My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today. An America where all children can have that opportunity to dream and succeed." Credit... Ian Brown, from "American Dreams"

I am pleased to report that the American dream is alive and well for an overwhelming majority of Americans.

This claim might sound far-fetched given the cultural climate in the United States today. Especially since President Trump took office, hardly a day goes by without a fresh tale of economic anxiety, political disunity or social struggle. Opportunities to achieve material success and social mobility through hard, honest work - which many people, including me, have assumed to be the core idea of the American dream - appear to be diminishing.

But Americans, it turns out, have something else in mind when they talk about the American dream. And they believe that they are living it.

Last year the American Enterprise Institute and I joined forces with the research center NORC at the University of Chicago and surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,411 Americans about their attitudes toward community and society. The center is renowned for offering "deep" samples of Americans, not just random ones, so that researchers can be confident that they are reaching Americans in all walks of life: rural, urban, exurban and so on. Our findings were released on Tuesday as an American Enterprise Institute report.

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Tamara and Chris Johnson, Centuria, Wis.: "Our American dream is simple," Ms. Johnson said. "The rewards are not things, they are experiences - a meal, a conversation, a walk, a hug. Our American dream is not easy. It requires grit, persistence and drive. Our American dream is not exclusive - it gives. In our American dream no one is left behind."

What our survey found about the American dream came as a surprise to me. When Americans were asked what makes the American dream a reality, they did not select as essential factors becoming wealthy, owning a home or having a successful career. Instead, 85 percent indicated that "to have freedom of choice in how to live" was essential to achieving the American dream. In addition, 83 percent indicated that "a good family life" was essential.

The "traditional" factors (at least as I had understood them) were seen as less important. Only 16 percent said that to achieve the American dream, they believed it was essential to "become wealthy," only 45 percent said it was essential "to have a better quality of life than your parents," and just 49 percent said that "having a successful career" was key.

This pattern - seeing the American dream as more about community and individuality than material success and social mobility - appeared across demographic and political categories. In the case of political party affiliation, for example, 84 percent of Republicans and independents said having freedom was essential to the American dream, as did 88 percent of Democrats; less than 20 percent of those in either party held that becoming wealthy was essential.

Helen and Jesse, Cleveland: "My family immigrated to the U.S. from China over 25 years ago. They left everything and everyone they knew so that they could give me a better life. That was their American dream," Helen said. "My American dream is the same as my parents'. I want my future children, everyone's children, to grow up in a country where they have opportunities to create a better life."

The data also show that most Americans believe themselves to be achieving this version of the American dream, with 41 percent reporting that their families are already living the American dream and another 41 percent reporting that they are well on the way to doing so. Only 18 percent took the position that the American dream was out of reach for them.

Collectively, 82 percent of Americans said they were optimistic about their future, and there was a fairly uniform positive outlook across the nation. Factors such as region, urbanity, partisanship and housing type (such as a single‐family detached home versus an apartment) barely affected these patterns, with all groups hovering around 80 percent. Even race and ethnicity, which are regularly cited as key factors in thwarting upward mobility, corresponded to no real differences in outlook: Eighty-one percent of non‐Hispanic whites; 80 percent of blacks, Hispanics and those of mixed race; and 85 percent of those with Asian heritage said that they had achieved or were on their way to achieving the American dream.

Income did make a difference, with 72 percent of those earning under $35,000 expressing a positive outlook about the American dream, compared with 90 percent of those earning over $100,000 - but those numbers are still overwhelmingly positive. Another difference was generational. Eighty-three percent of baby boomers, 80 percent of Gen Xers and 81 percent of millennials were optimistic about the American dream. But those in Gen Z - Americans born in 1997 or later - were notably less optimistic at 73 percent.

Brothers Chase and Connor LaCoste, Amite, La. "I think the American dream is that all people should be equal, no matter if you're black or white," Chase said. "As an African-American young boy I just hope I can can live to be a black man. Two main things you should always have is freedom and liberty."

In general, though, the data are clear: Individuality and family, not wealth and real estate, are what Americans seek and believe they are finding in the national "dream."

What conclusions should we draw from this research? I think the findings suggest that Americans would be well served to focus less intently on the nastiness of our partisan politics and the material temptations of our consumer culture, and to focus more on the communities they are part of and exercising their freedom to live as they wish. After all, that is what most of us seem to think is what really matters - and it's in reach for almost all of us.

Samuel J. Abrams is professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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Opinion | The American Dream Is Alive and Well (Published 2019)

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Opinion Most people in this country say that they are living it - but what they mean by the phrase might surprise you. Jairo, Miami: "My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today.

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In the book "The Distance Between Us" Reyna Grande had the American Dream of being able to go to college one day and get a good education. This is exactly what she did when she enrolled to Pasadena City College. In chapter 22 the first sentence is " In the summer, i enrolled in an English class at Pasadena City College that was part of the requirements to transfer to a four year college" (Grande 299). This shows that her America Dream is more then just a dream but she is making it happen. Even though her dad didn't want her to go to college she didn't listen to him and still went. Everyone's American Dream is different but we can still all achieve it if we go around the obstacles.

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This is one of Donald Trumps campaigns where he talks about how the American Dream is still alive. This video supports my thesis statement because Trumps talk about how there will be great jobs which will lead to the American Dream. He also talks about how the American Dream gives Americans a limitless future which is what the American dream is. The whole video explains why the American Dream is still alive and well. As long as you are doing the right thing and making no excuses then its achievable. Trump himself said that the American Dream is alive and well.

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In the song they are explaining how that only in america can you get these different things, like achieving your American Dream. There is a line in the song that talks about how in America people can dream as big as they want to, "Only in America, Where we dream as big as we want to". In America people have the opportunity to achieve anything because the American Dream is still alive for everyone no matter what, and this is what the song is saying. A part of the song says that people from everyone come to America to do what they have dreamed of. The song explains that the American Dream is still alive and well. It also explains that everyone has their own American Dreams because everyone is different. These dreams can come true only in America which is the title of the song.