The American Dream typically does not involve dropping out of college or high school, coming to America as an immigrant, or being incredibly poor. However, people who dropped out of college or high school, came to America as immigrants, or were incredibly poor, have been some of the most prominent and successful figures in American history. If icons like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk abandoned their ideas for the sake of the American dream, which involves earning a college degree, being rich from the start and being one hundred percent American, companies like Microsoft, Apple, Tesla, PayPal and SpaceX wouldn't exist today. It would be difficult for the Smiths to research the real estate market in any trendy neighborhood without a Windows or Mac operating system and a search engine like Google. If Changez from The Reluctant Fundamentalist or Jeannette Walls from The Glass Castle had not been limited by the idea of ​​the American Dream, Changez might have stayed in America and found happiness, and Walls and his family would have been more successful at the beginning of their voyage. . The American Dream limits potential because it convinces people that success is black and white. Fortunately, many icons did not allow themselves to accept the idea of ​​the American dream. If Gates, Jobs, and Musk had decided to pursue what the dream defines as success instead of pursuing something unique and different, as they all once did, then America and the world would never have logically progressed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While it is common wisdom that to achieve the kind of success promised by the American Dream, you need to earn a college degree, this is not always the case. On some occasions, college can even hinder people's success by blinding them to other opportunities. Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is worth billions. Bill Gates' success was not based on earning a college degree. Gates attended Harvard University, but to Gates, "Harvard was expendable" (Dalglish). In 1974, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen visited Gates at Harvard while Gates was a sophomore. During this visit, "Allen urged him to leave the university so he could form a partnership to develop software" (Dalglish). Allen believed that if he and Gates waited any longer, the two would have missed the chance to enter the software industry in its early stage. Gates accepted and soon dropped out of the Ivy League university. For Gates, education has never been the most important thing. For Gates, technology was the most important thing. Even in high school, "Bill began skipping class to go to the computer center at his private school at all hours" (Biography). In college, Gates still spent most of his time working in Harvard's computer center. The duo went on to create Microsoft, which is now worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Gates was a billionaire at age 31. If Gates hadn't dropped out of college, Microsoft wouldn't exist today. If there were no Microsoft today, it is likely that personal computers would not be where they are today. By 1992, Microsoft's MS-DOS computer operating system was “used in 90% of the world's personal computers” (Dalglish). Today, the Windows operating system is the most popular operating system, and Microsoft offers other products in addition to operating systems, such as Microsoft Office and Xbox. The American Dream tells a success story that revolves around many different factors, one of which is earning a college degree. However, Gates did not accept this mantra. Instead, Gateshe believed that he could do without a higher education, and he was more than right. “Gates insists that he does not measure success in purely commercial terms” (Dalglish). For Bill Gates, success is having an intelligent colleague who tells him if his idea is good. Gates did not follow the example of the path laid out by the American dream, and thanks to it he changed the world of technology. Coincidentally, Gates isn't the only tech visionary whose success isn't based on a college education. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, dropped out of Reed College after just one semester. “After six months, I couldn't see the value in it,” Jobs said. “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and I had no idea how college would help me figure it out. So I decided to give up and trust that everything would work out” (Goodell). In addition to not having earned a college degree, Jobs was also the opposite of the clean-cut business executive people imagine when they imagine a Fortune 500 company. Jobs tripped on LSD and smoked marijuana, all while wearing ripped jeans and practiced Buddhism. Jobs' vision with Apple relied heavily on his unique personality and his resistance to the norm. Ironically, even Bill Gates “was baffled that people wanted color computers” (Kahney 154). The American dream doesn't usually come in the form of a man tripping on LSD while starting a business in a garage. However, it has changed the technology, including how it is designed and how users interact with it. If Jobs had followed the stereotypical idea of ​​the American dream, he would never have become the visionary behind Apple. Jobs did what everyone else didn't do. In “The Steve Nobody Knows,” Goodell noted that “At a time when software was the model, he built the hardware. In an era when everyone focused on the macro, he focused on the micro” (Goodell). In addition to being a college dropout hippie, his biological father is Syrian and he is adopted. He partly grew up in Silicon Valley where “there were no stifling traditions, no cultural baggage. You could be whatever or whoever you wanted to be” (Goodell). For all the ways Jobs was the opposite of the American dream, he was worth more than $100 million when he was just 25 years old. If Jobs had stayed in school, Apple wouldn't exist. There would be no art in designing technology. Furthermore, cell phones would not be where they are today. Shortly after the iPhone's June 2006 launch, Leander Kahney notes in Inside Steve's Brain that "the iPhone is already radically transforming the massive cell phone business, which experts say is already divided into two eras: pre-iPhone and post-iPhone. -iPhone" (Kahney 3). If Jobs hadn't been alternative in his ways, there wouldn't be a single vision to change how technology is created and how people use it, and teenage girls might not be able to upgrade their own Instagrams. In addition to mandating a college education, the American Dream, ironically, often fails to include immigrants. The American Dream typically involves a white family born and raised in the United States. However, one man who could shape American history is South African Elon Musk. Musk is the founder of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. Musk is the “Steve Jobs of heavy industry” or the “Henry Ford of rockets” (Junod). Musk's main goal is to go to Mars with SpaceX, which is pretty crazy, but not on Musk. Musk was born in South Africa, but moved to America after graduating high school. Although he was not born an American, “when he was very young, he gave up everything to become an American” (Junod). If Musk believed that the dream storyAmerican were reserved only for Americans, there would be no PayPal, Tesla or SpaceX. PayPal has made purchasing goods online easier. Tesla has made electric vehicles popular and desirable. SpaceX could change the course of human history with its attempts to travel into space and reach Mars. All this exists because of a man who emigrated to America. It is important to note how crucial the space program is to American pride. The space program, especially the Apollo 11 mission, represents the culmination of what Americans have accomplished. Now, a man who immigrated to America is working to overcome this peak. Musk is tackling the next big goal of the space program, one of the most important parts of American history, and he's not even American. Musk is the kind of man who doesn't care what the norm is, and in that sense, he's very American. Generally, Americans seem to embrace conformity. However, the Americans who led the country to success all ultimately embraced individualism a little more. Europeans came to America for the sake of individualism. Musk is certainly no exception to this pattern of individualism among historic Americans. For example, the Tesla Model S has a volume control that goes up to eleven. This little detail sums up Musk, along with the $100 million invested in SpaceX and the numerous failed attempts with the Falcon 1 rocket. Musk didn't get to where he is today by trying to meet any standards; he got to where he is today by ignoring the common and striving towards the unimaginable. Musk's attitude doesn't fit the risk-free, mediocre style of the American dream, especially as an immigrant man spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a goal he may never reach. However, if he does so, the effects of his work will be felt for centuries or longer, and this effect could not exist if Musk believed that the American dream is only for those born in America. While Elon Musk's story is real, a similar reality can be found in the narrative in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. In the book, the protagonist Changez emigrates to America from Pakistan to attend Princeton University, where he majors in finance. Changez leaves Pakistan to come to America for better opportunities. After attending Princeton, Changez joined Underwood Samson, a consulting firm, as an analyst. Changez excels at Underwood Samson, but Changez's life in America becomes tough after the attacks in America on September 11, 2001. After these attacks, those who resembled the perpetrators faced intense scrutiny, and Changez was no exception. The scrutiny Changez faces leads to Changez's dismissal from Underwood Samson, shunned by his superior, and an ill-fated return to Pakistan. However, scrutiny is not what led to Changez losing his life in America. Changez's reaction to the scrutiny is what caused Changez to lose sight of what's important. For Changez, the American dream is life or death. In response to the scrutiny, Changez negatively amplifies his identity as a Muslim, creating suspicion among his peers. Changez did not embrace his identity as a Muslim honestly and purely; instead, Changez was attempting to instigate an already troubled situation by pouring fuel on the fire by instilling fear and paranoia with his appearance and erratic behavior. Changez believes that achieving the American Dream is the only way to find success in America. However, unfortunately, the American Dream stereotype does not involve a Middle Eastern man. Changez must realize that success can be achieved through other avenues than achieving the American dream depicted.