“Mexican-American”, and so on. This self-segregation is counterproductive to the concept of the “melting pot” that America was founded on. It creates division and a lack of unity among Americans. Instead of focusing on what makes us different, we should focus on what makes us the same: our shared values and beliefs in freedom, democracy, and the American Dream. It is time to move away from self-segregation and towards a united America.
States.
Everyone had to prove that they were independent, capable, and willing to integrate into the cultural melting pot with its own identity of hard work, grit, and determination, which established and fostered success in American society. However, not everyone who chooses to take the adventure and risk associated with becoming American wishes to share in this identity. Many feel it necessary to shun the American identity and observe it with a level of disdain, disregarding the reasons themselves or previous generations may have immigrated to America for. In the short story “Mericans,” Sandra Cisneros illustrates this concept through a character in the story. “The awful grandmother knits the names of the dead and the living into one long prayer fringed with the grandchildren born in that barbaric country with its barbaric ways” (Cisneros). In the story, it is later identified that the children in reference were indeed born in the United States. The “awful grandmother” has an incredibly low opinion of the society in which her grandchildren were born. Barbaric - let’s take a look at that word, shall we? “Without civilizing influences; uncivilized; primitive” (barbaric). The detriment of that perception seems to be counterproductive to the melting pot concept of the United States. pot society can benefit from placing a higher value on education. It is important to recognize that academic success is not solely based on race, but rather on the values and priorities instilled by one's upbringing and culture.
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
In the excerpt from “From the Melting Pot to the Tossed Salad Metaphor: Why Coercive Assimilation Lacks the Flavors Americans Crave” Gloor evaluates several metaphors used to describe the diversity of America, beginning with the most common ideas of the United States being considered either melting pot or a salad bowl. After analyzing both metaphors, it becomes evident that while these ideas sound great, in reality, they are not only a flawed depiction of what America is like but altogether undesirable considering the implications of a “melting pot” or “tossed salad” society. In the text, Gloor brings up a third and new metaphor that symbolizes America as an ethnic stew, but in reality, the stew theory is more accurately wishful thinking than it is an actualized reality. Gloor’s writing piece not only exposes the flaws of the melting pot and tossed salad metaphors, but exemplifies the complexity of our society due to the several moderate inaccuracies of the ethnic stew theory.
During the late 1800's and early 1900's hundreds of thousands of European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their own conception of the American Dream. The majority of the immigrants believed that their lives would completely change for the better and the new world would bring nothing but happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a bright future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime safety, and other benefits seemed like a chance in a lifetime to these struggling foreigners. Little did these people know that what they would confront would be the complete antithesis of what they dreamed of.
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute to Social Services and Medicaid through taxes and they help provide the backbone of America, especially by working jobs that natives may have not even considered.
Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.
The United States has often been referred to as a global “melting pot” due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. In today’s society, this metaphor may be an understatement. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of foreign born United States residents nearly doubled from 20 million to 40 million, increasing the U.S. population from almost 250 million to 350 million people. With U.S. born children and grandchildren of immigrants, immigration contributed to half of this population growth. These immigrants, consisting of mostly Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, have drastically changed the composition of the U.S. population. In 2010, Asians and Hispanics made up 20 percent of the U.S. population, in contrast to a 6 percent share of Asians and Hispanics in 1970. It is predicted that by 2050, the share of immigrants in the United States will increase to one half of the entire population. With this rapid increase in diversity, many citizens have opposing views on its impact on the United States. In my opinion, an increase in immigration does contain both positive and negatives effects, but in general it provides an overriding positive influence on America’s society (“Population”).
Some would say, quotes John F. Kennedy, “Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.” Thus, in today’s society, we can say that immigrants are what made America possible—economically and socially. We are in a melting pot era where the impossible was made possible. From the time John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, making a promise to change the national origins system to unite the nations of all countries equally. Hence, in 1965, under Lyndon Johnson’s administration, Kennedy’s promise came into light, amending the INS—favoring unification of families, not national origins. Although, the unification was made possible, the peacefulness never lasted.
The United States has been historically a country of immigrants. Since the first British settlers landed on the shores of the eastern United States in the 1600’s, there has been a strong and steady influx of immigrants to North America. They were driven by the promise of a new and better life for themselves and for their families. Over the last 400 years there have been successive waves of immigration that have risen and fallen over time. Historically most immigration has come from the European nations with waves coming to the United States by region and specific countries. In the 1800’s there was a mass migration of Irish, German, British, and French Immigrants. The largest group, the Irish, was escaping the Potato Famine that left Ireland in an awful state of poverty and famine. These groups sought a better life from the poor economic and social times of Europe and were lured to the United States by the hope of land, freedom, opportunity, and jobs. Later improvements in technology in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s led to lower transatlantic fares. Many Slavic people, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles and over 4 million European Jews came over during this time in search of a better quality life, better jobs, and more oppor...
America was widely known as a “melting pot” of sorts for many generations. The country earned its title by accepting immigrants of various cultures and molding, or melting, them into the American lifestyle. However, the “melting pot” idea of America is starting to dissipate. According to a Newsweek Poll on the public, “only 20 percent still think America is a melting pot” (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.4). As more Americans push away immigrants and create stereotypes against said immigrants, America continues to lose its title as a “melting pot.” There is ethnic friction in America and people have begun to have a hard time assimilating (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.18). .America is beginning to place a negative outlook on its culture. Authors Jack Shaheen, Richard Rodriguez, Peter Marin and Zora Neale Hurtson all shape American culture in a detrimental way.
Immigrants come to America, the revered City upon a Hill, with wide eyes and high hopes, eager to have their every dream and wild reverie fulfilled. Rarely, if ever, is this actually the case. A select few do achieve the stereotypical ‘rags to riches’ transformation – thus perpetuating the myth. The Garcia family from Julia Alvarez’s book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, fall prey to this fairytale. They start off the tale well enough: the girls are treated like royalty, princesses of their Island home, but remained locked in their tower, also known as the walls of their family compound. The family is forced to flee their Dominican Republic paradise – which they affectionately refer to as simply, the Island – trading it instead for the cold, mean streets of American suburbs. After a brief acclimation period, during which the girls realize how much freedom is now available to them, they enthusiastically try to shed their Island roots and become true “American girls.” They throw themselves into the American lifestyle, but there is one slight snag in their plan: they, as a group, are unable to forget their Island heritage and upbringing, despite how hard they try to do so. The story of the Garcia girls is not a fairytale – not of the Disney variety anyway; it is the story of immigrants who do not make the miraculous transition from rags to riches, but from stifling social conventions to unabridged freedom too quickly, leaving them with nothing but confusion and unresolved questions of identity.
There is a phenomenon happening in most schools throughout the country. Asian students as young as seven years olds are labeled as gifted and enrolled in various accelerate programs to further develop their talents. Certainly, most of these students are deserving of the honorable recognition. However, many skeptics do question how many of them are viewed as exceptional students based upon the stereotype: they are genetically smarter than their non-Asian peers.
Dr. John Jerrim, a reader in education and social statistics at the Institute of Education at the University of London believes that, “in Asia, at least, students are set up for success: through an emphasis on hard work, the desire to succeed, a conductive environment and a teaching style that, despite criticism, delivers results.” In an attempt to get the students the best schooling they possibly can, Asian administrators instill in them that working hard is an important quality and something to use as students progress to the work force. Obviously, Asians feel the necessity of schooling and take to heart the seriousness of great education (Rohaidi). As a result of their great appreciation for schooling, people believe that Asians are smart and never consider that there could be more to them than meets the eye. Never realizing that there could be more to a person than the information in their head. Asians are clumped together as if they are a sheet of paper with only two sides. One side holds their Asian roots and the other shows their knowledge. To go along with that, it is a commonly held belief that Asians are only smart because they are Asian. Many people never link it to their hard work and dedication (Markman). Asians are an important part of our society and should be acknowledged for their intelligence, but also for their great addition to
Traditionally history of the Americas and American population has been taught in a direction heading west from Europe to the California frontier. In Recovering History, Constructing Race, Martha Mencahca locates the origins of the history of the Americas in a floral pattern where migration from Asia, Europe, and Africa both voluntary and forced converge magnetically in Mexico then spreads out again to the north and northeast. By creating this patters she complicates the idea of race, history, and nationality. The term Mexican, which today refers to a specific nationality in Central America, is instead used as a shared historic and cultural identity of a people who spread from Mexico across the southwest United States. To create this shared identity Menchaca carefully constructs the Mexican race from prehistoric records to current battles for Civil Rights. What emerges is a story in which Anglo-Americans become the illegal immigrants crossing the border into Texas and mestizo Mexicans can earn an upgrade in class distinction through heroic military acts. In short what emerges is a sometimes upside down always creative reinvention of history and the creation of the Mexican "race (?)".
"Immigrants and the American Dream." Society 33.n1 (Nov-Dec 1995):3(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale University. 26 Sep. 2006.