Equality of Opportunity and Competition

It is important to understand what Americans mean when they say they believe in equality of opportunity. They do not mean that everyone is—or should be—equal. However, they do mean that each individual should have an equal chance for success. Americans see much of life as a race for success. For them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity may be thought of as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into a wealthy family.

President Abraham Lincoln expressed this belief in the 1860's when he said:

"We ... wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else. When one starts poor, as most do in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition; he knows that there is no fixed condition of labor for his whole life."

There is, however, a price to be paid for this equality of opportunity: competition. If much of life is seen as a race, then a person must run the race in order to succeed; a person must compete with others. If every person has an equal chance to succeed in the United States, then it is every person's duty to try. Americans match their energy and intelligence against that of their neighbors in a competitive contest for success. People who like to compete are more successful than others are honored by being called "winner". On the other hand, those who do not like to compete and are not successful when they try are often dishonored by being called "loser". This is especially true for American men, and it is becoming more and more true for women.

The pressures of competition in the life of an American begin in childhood and continue until retirement from work. Learning to compete successfully is part of growing up in the United States. In a recent opinion poll, 60 percent of the American people agreed with this statement: "It is not healthy for young people to refuse to believe that winning in competition is important." That is, 60 percent believe competition and the desire to win are healthy and desirable. Only 28 percent disagreed.

The pressure to compete causes an American man to be energetic, but it also places a constant emotional strain on him. When he retires at age 65, he is at last free from the pressures of competition. But then a new problem arises. He tends to feel useless and unwanted in a society that gives so much prestige to those who compete well. This is one reason why older people in the United States do not have as much honor and respect as they have in other, less competitive societies. In fact, any group of people who do not compete successfully—for whatever reason—do not fit into the mainstream of American life as well as those who do.