Cultural Melting Pot Analysis

What every American should know by Eric Liu thoroughly examines the issue of cultural literacy and its place in modern America. It takes on a convincing argument against E.D. Hirsch’s book on the same which included some 5000 things that he thought define cultural literacy and every American should know. Liu argues that America has changed over time, becoming more multicultural, and to capture the cultural literacy of the country, no one person should sit down and come up with what they think everyone else should know. Instead he suggests that in order to capture the view of the nation, every American should be involved in the making of the list. The most engaging part of this article is Liu’s idea that this new list that is crowd-sourced should always change according to the times. It should not be cast in stone because things in this day and age change really fast; what is a hit this month will be old news in the next one. This is what cultural literacy really is; keeping up with what is going on around you and being open to learn new things as they emerge. This can also be said of education; in order to stay educated in any field, you have to be in the know of in terms of new developments.

The article ‘’What Every American Should Know’’ by Eric Liu acknowledges the struggles, the rapidly changing, and all of the multicultural issues that continually expands through every day of the culture wars. So within this article Liu is confronting a very substantial topic, which he asserts the problem of cultural diversity or the culture wars inside of the United States. In the article Liu provides the reader with many different examples all the way from cultural literacy, multiculturalism, and many examples from history over the years. Liu also expresses these examples in a way that the reader can absorb the details in a different style were the reader has to look at each example in a different aspect to fully understand what he is trying to stay. Liu evaluates E.D Hirsch and talks about the list. The list that every American should know, containing ten words that every citizen in America should know. Liu discourages people use Hirsch’s list because of the time differences between the past and the future, and how the culture war has progressed through time. Liu has evolved Hirsch’s idea and created something more modern that people can create their own list to show the people of America different opinions to have and no one is wrong or right that is what makes this list so influential. (Liu)

The United States of America used to be known as the world’s largest melting pot. Meaning many different ethnicities and backgrounds coming and living with one another, and sharing each other’s culture. This can also be defined as assimilation. The United States of America has slowly drifted away from assimilation to isolating those who are different and diverse.

Known to many as the ‘melting pot,’ the United States consists of a variety of cultures and peoples. Immigrants from near and far traveled and continue to do so for economic opportunities or to escape persecution. One particular group of people who immigrated to the United States were the Filipinos or Pinoys, as some like to call themselves. Due to its 400-year colonization by Spain and the United States, the Filipino American populace increased after the Philippines became a territory under U.S. control. The last Asiatic group to migrate to the United States, the Filipinos have contributed to the American society through a variety of occupations, such as sailors or nannies. Moreover, the U.S. colonization of the Philippines from

America is a melting pot filled with many different cultures; moreover, the changing color of America has made it one of the most diverse place to live. Though rich in culture, minority groups suffer from health disparities due to their socioeconomic status, education, language, and political beliefs. As most minority group will find they have similar barriers that they face during the assimilation to the main stream culture. The minority group that will be focused for this discussion will be Vietnamese Americans.

Education can play the strongest role in combating cultural diversity. The United States is a melting pot of cultures from around the world. “The concept of a “melting-pot”

So many times the phrase "melting pot" is used to describe the United States of America. It is a country built on ideals such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other basic human rights. These  ideals, though they may have originated from European men labeled as liberals, eventually captured followers from all over the world. Soon, America was a mixture of peoples with different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and cultures all working together for the "American Dream."

In Forging a New Vision of America 's Melting Pot by Gregory Rodriguez the author expresses support for a heavy Mexican influence in the United States and integration of races. The author made some points about how legislatures have tried to stop Mexicans from entering the country and have repeatedly tried to keep them down as second class citizens. It seems that he wants Mexicans to have more influence in mainstream media, but I feel as if he 's pushing it too strong. I 'm all for equality, but it seems that he wants Hispanics to take a very large piece of the pie. I prefer an equal amount of the pie for all. It seems that the issue the author is stating about discrimination and legislative action against Hispanics comes from issues stemming from the old days. He mentions the Nineteen-twenties Texas representative John C. Box and his controversial views on immigration of Mexicans, but then he states a strong support in the Nineteen-nineties and their “Latino issues are American issues” mantra. I see why some people may be worried that Mexicans are taking over, because they may lose a little of their culture. Although change isn 't always bad, we cannot just barge in and force a change. America is a diverse country and we have a piece of the whole world here, so for one social group to complain and want their influence to be on a grand scale is just preposterous. We all need to share this melting pot of stew.

Today, as Americans, we are surrounded by an increasing number of very different cultures, and along with that we are surrounded by numerous

Individuals coming in the U.S. have experienced a graduate deculturalization process as the country's majority assimilated them. Even with the fact that many communities struggle in order to preserve their cultural values, it is extremely difficult for them to do so in environments where they are being bombarded with cultural values belonging to other groups. While the U.S. has recently appeared to have adopted a more positive attitude with regard to other cultures, the matter is still problematic. The fact that many cultures have been gradually assimilated by the majority practically means that many traditions have been abandoned in order for people to develop interest in other concepts.

Even though there are set values that are universally known to the public, people do not always follow those values within their groups. However, these people have to act in conformity and abide by the values in public. Although everyone assumes that “imagined communities” contain a common culture, in reality, they really do not due to the fact that there are many body of ideas and practices that are not shared. Many languages are spoken and countless number of religions are practiced in various countries, so these make the “common culture” idea a misconception among citizens of different countries. For example, people tend to think that America consists of culture that is common, but they do not know if the beliefs, values, and practices are universally shared by all Americans. Nonetheless, there was a time when a dominant culture in the United States actually existed. It was during when the religion of Christianity was prominent and when many countries in Europe spoke the English language. It should be known that black Americans, Chinese-Americans, and white Americans have a common culture because of everything they do and do not share. From the common culture would arise the social identity, which can cause problems in diversity. Diversity can be an issue because of the ignorance of all the contrasting values. These issues arise because racial and ethnic identities are compared to one another and both can also relate to genders and sexualities. Nevermore, distinct genders and sexualities often live together now with the same knowledge and values and can still grow into opposite racial identities. Ethnic identities are so different since they are created in family and community life and people want the solidarity from being unique to one

Cultural diversity, or multiculturalism, is based on the idea that cultural identities should not be discarded or ignored, but rather maintained and valued. The foundation of this belief is that every culture and race has made a substantial contribution to American history. However, many people remain opposed to the idea of multiculturalism, or cultural diversity awareness, while others often support it and yet have no clear idea of how it should be taught. The diversity of the United States is truly astounding, as many different ethnic and racial groups have contributed to the social,

The United States is a country that is often referred to as a melting pot because it has a mixture of people of all different ages, religions, and cultures. With such a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, it seems essential that cultural awareness and sensitivity is incorporated

The United States is commonly know as a melting pot of nations, in which people from around the world have emigrated to form a homogeneous yet varied culture. Although we come from different ethnic groups, we are usually bound together through our common English language. This becomes an issue, however, when immigrants are not familiar with English and American culture, and instead attempt to keep their own heritage alive. They are often torn between identities through language, the one they speak at home which they are familiar with, and the one they must adhere to in public. This often leads to struggle and conflict on both sides, dealing with different cultures and how people react when assimilation occurs. Because of this, living in the United States often requires us to completely accept only one identity, even though hints of the other may spill over at times.

The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.