The American Dream is becoming harder to achieve. A report from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that “most Americans raised at the bottom of the income ladder never reach the middle rung.” Growing up in a poor migrant family I am experiencing many challenges that poor people have to overcome to move up.
Had my parents not come to the United States when I was a child, I would have not had an opportunity get out of poverty. If I stayed in Mexico my possibility to have gone to get an formal education would have been less, considering the cost of school and education quality in Mexico is not affordable or good.
My parents came from a lower middle class family in Mexico. Our grandparents owned their homes. My dad is a U.S. citizen. My mom wasn't …show more content…
Therefore it has been hard and slow for them to get out of poverty. If they had been part of a union, had 401K, or other work benefits they would have been able to accumulate some wealth. Although my family struggled with poverty, welfare programs that benefited me and my brother alleviated the problem, and helped level the playing ground with people who were not poor. I benefited from a lot of programs in Texas that helped migrant families, including the head start program, affordable housing, and food stamps. Hadn’t not been for those programs that helped alleviate the poverty I grew up with, I would not have finished grade school. In middle school though, I decided move to go to a magnet school which was not in my city of residence. I felt that if I stayed at my regular school, I would not be prepared for college. I did so because I knew about the reputation of the magnet school and it’s challenging coursework. Additionally the support and encouragement of my parents helped me a lot to finish high school. I have friends and cousins who didn’t had bad family dynamic at home, many didn’t finish school or took longer. Teachers throughout grade school also provided a lot of
Had my parents not come to the United States when I was a child, I would have not had an opportunity get out of poverty. If I stayed in Mexico my possibility to have gone to get an formal education would have been less, considering the cost of school and education quality in Mexico is not affordable or good.
My parents came from a lower middle class family in Mexico. Our grandparents owned their homes. My dad is a U.S. citizen. My mom wasn't …show more content…
Therefore it has been hard and slow for them to get out of poverty. If they had been part of a union, had 401K, or other work benefits they would have been able to accumulate some wealth. Although my family struggled with poverty, welfare programs that benefited me and my brother alleviated the problem, and helped level the playing ground with people who were not poor. I benefited from a lot of programs in Texas that helped migrant families, including the head start program, affordable housing, and food stamps. Hadn’t not been for those programs that helped alleviate the poverty I grew up with, I would not have finished grade school. In middle school though, I decided move to go to a magnet school which was not in my city of residence. I felt that if I stayed at my regular school, I would not be prepared for college. I did so because I knew about the reputation of the magnet school and it’s challenging coursework. Additionally the support and encouragement of my parents helped me a lot to finish high school. I have friends and cousins who didn’t had bad family dynamic at home, many didn’t finish school or took longer. Teachers throughout grade school also provided a lot of