Giving Compass' Take:

• The author interviews rural high school students to gauge their thoughts on the American Dream and what it means to them. 

• How will rural students' experiences differ from others? And why does their geographic location and experience with poverty matter? 

• Read about how impact investing can revive the American Dream. 

The belief that if a person works hard enough she can become financially successful, regardless of existing barriers to opportunity, is integral to the American mythos of meritocracy. But a 2011 Pew Charitable Trust poll found that many Americans—whether they are living in cities, small towns, or rural communities—share pessimism about upward mobility.

Rural communities experience higher rates of poverty and lower rates of college completion than urban communities, making upward mobility for rural students more difficult. What do students in rural communities think about the American Dream? Does it exist, is it attainable, and what role does education play in their climb? I spoke with students from rural communities about the American Dream and what it means to them.

To me, the American Dream means that you have the opportunity and the resources to live out the ideas that you have, to live how you want to live... My mom—she’s going to get a job here one of these days, and I’m going to school and hopefully going to get into a college to get a decent job. Education is the key to a lot of things, and it is the key to ending the cycle of poverty. Poverty is a vicious cycle. - Madison Ortega, Morehead, Kentucky

Read the full article by Magdalena Slapik about the American Dream from The Atlantic