“Difficulties, dangers and benefits of assimilation”;
America today is a very advanced and privileged place to live in, filled with many successful people and more to come. People from around the world, including my own parents, have an opportunity to become a better version of themselves here and as a result can give back to the community, allowing further success to thrive. The amount of ideas brought from several cultures can help society grow together as Americans, in an assimilated environment. Assimilation has a positive impact on the way Americans think in terms of infrastructure, jobs, entertainment, etc. Emerging into one subcategory as Americans will bring new ideas, create an increase of social agreement with one another, and allow great benefits of opportunities for immigrants along with new jobs/ businesses to grow in communities not yet present or allow pre-existing communities to continue growing.
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There are many places in America where the population is assimilated yet successful. “Westminster High, selected through a rigorous application and review process that included a site visit, joins approximately 150 other AVID National Demonstration Schools nationwide. That represents fewer than 3 percent of campuses where AVID has been implemented.” Hanigan, I. (2017, March 24). For example, take my school, Westminster High as an example.) Our campus is made of multiple cultures, students, programs, etc. Our AVID program, made up of different ethnicities, for example, was just recently awarded by having our school be a national demonstration site for all schools to look up to! Think about it. A school representing hundreds of thousands of schools across the USA. That’s a great success that was achieved through the staff but most importantly the diverse amount of students of Westminster High.This leads to my next point of assimilation in terms of geographical location. I Live in Orange County, where the population is 3.19 million as of 2017. According to the US Department of Commerce, there is a 34.3% hispanic population and a 20.4% asian population alone. There are lots of jobs in Orange County, economic opportunities, and tourist attractions that leave people comfortable with the environment. Migrants have settled in Orange County since the 1940s when Japanese/ Asian ethnicities were being put in internment camps to evade the dangers of that lifestyle. Hispanics too have settled in OC for the better. As years flew by culture has really assimilated in this region and created a society of businesses and economic success. The number of places in America where you can see success by assimilation are endless. Schools and cities are only the small needle in a haystack of variations that you can see right in your daily lives.
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Many would argue that geographical location affects the way assimilation works and as a result will not be supportive to all Americans. Geography can affect the way people travel and in most cases the way they choose to live their lifestyles. “Some political leaders, international organizations, and scientists claim that climate change will lead to massive population shifts in the international system, notably mass migration from poor to rich countries.” K., Bernauer, T., Koubi, V., ETH Zurich, & ETH. (2018, February 28). Bernauer, Koubi, and Zurich give insight on how during assimilation humans may not be comfortable with his/her environment which can be determined by a variety of factors with climate change being the major one. There are still plenty of other causes for migration(Natural disaster aftermath, governmental laws, etc. I understand. There are things in our lives that are out of our control and thus can cause an imbalance in the way we as humans choose to make decisions (Assimilation being one of them). Although there may be limitations to a majority of people not wanting to live in point A rather than point B, that doesn’t mean that someone else might not like the conditions. Not all humans are the same, after all.
Assimilated populations have an impact on the way Americans think in terms of infrastructure, jobs, entertainment, etc. For instance, Smith’s view on assimilation has something to say about it. “Views of immigration have also shifted in recent years, as Americans increasingly view immigrants as a source of strength, rather than as a burden, for the nation.”Smith, S. (2017, October 05). Immigrants can be of great help society by tackling on methods in foreign regions(to them) and implementing a mixture of theirs with the current method in order to create something new and better. Ideas are one of the biggest fundamentals for a thriving community/ economy. The more assimilated Americans can become the more ideas that can flow into the societies we live in.) Immigrants are like the batteries of an engine. The more batteries there are the more we can keep the engine going in America. This goes to my next point. “The traditional assumption is that immigrants have costs to U.S. society in the initial period after arrival, but that the costs decrease and the benefits to society increase as duration of residence increases. It is further assumed that the benefits to society also increase with greater assimilation to American culture.”Anon, (n.d.). Statistics on U.S. Immigration. Assimilation comes at a temporary cost, that being the initial funding to new immigrants. The bright side is that after the costs have been nullified the long term exponential increase will continue to help Americans grow. With more migrants coming into America we can increase funding for the communities benefits by building new sorts of transportations, buildings, parks, schools, and more (or even renovations)! The layouts of how these ideas will be made don’t all have to be the same; that’s where the culture comes in play due to assimilation so there will be all sorts of ideas flying around the place for America to implement.
Arguably, people say that assimilation can lead to America’s downfall by impacting it negatively because of refusing to adopt new cultures and creating separation in the country. Here’s a short intake on a boy that has lived in a location but has refused to adopt the native land’s language. “This week a doctor from north London was telling me about one of his patients, a lad of 20 who has lived in the borough of Hackney all his life. He was born here and grew up here. And he’s a bright boy – yet he speaks only a few very rudimentary words of English.”Fraser, G. (2016, December 08). This man since a child has lived in England for his entire life and chose not to adopt to the english language. Instead the man spoke Yiddish; deriving from the Jewish culture. If one person can neglect change, why can’t it assure that others won’t too? Situations like this can cause an uproar in communities during the assimilation process and will most likely lag productivity than to further exceed it. It’s common to see that there will always be an exception to anything but in case it does not mean the end for assimilation. We can still find ways of communication and do our best to get along in order to achieve success.
Emerging into one category can help prevent conflict against cultures. If all we do is help others while maintaining our primary culture, it can lead to a sense of superiority over others because of this/ that culture is doing better at helping therefore they are better than us. Its best for cultures to come together and create an agreement line where we can respect one another. “Multiculturalism one is an attractive and persuasive notion. It suggests a human being whose identifications and loyalties transcend the boundaries of nationalism and whose commitments are pinned to a larger vision of the global community. To be a citizen of the world, an international person, has long been an ideal toward which many strive.”(Alder P, 1974, p.1). Alder mentions how multiculturalism is a great focus that everyone should have interest of in terms of assimilating. It prevents conflict from being fed into newly growing areas and can create trust between foreigners and those native to the place. Being separated will not get America anywhere. If we can first learn a way to adopt new cultures and create it into one, then and only then will multiculturalism affect assimilation in a good way. Moving on to the next detail. “Assimilation boosts the number of individuals in the labor force, thus resulting in a percentage drop for unemployment, and economic growth.”Pittin, J. (2014). As written before, assimilation means migration and the more people we can have, the more jobs that can come from it. With more jobs means a growth in economy which means more funding for the government/ state! This emergence will benefit the process of assimilation by having that nationalism sense of feeling within cultures restricted and help focus more on the brighter picture, success within the nation. All there is to do is try. Without trying, how can we get into agreement and help each individual’s lives?
Those would disagree and say that multiculturalism cannot work due to religious beliefs that almost make it impossible to get along with people having different views on his/her religion. I have seen people neglecting others for having a different view on religion without even knowing the real them. “We have an assimilation problem in our country; many immigrants are grateful for refuge here, yet reject assimilating fully into a culture they perceive as libertine.”Simms, L. (2016, March 09). These immigrants that come from wherever may have an issue with the way America sways with religion. Seeing that this is the case I can see the reason why multiculturalism might be an issue however there can always be a way of finding the means to work things out. Fixing this issue will be a challenge but we can try to reunify our country's faith through patriotism. It doesn’t have to come from war to restore faith and force collaboration but there can be other methods to doing so. We can reteach the ways in which this country’s land was built up from bottom up in order to inspire those who are new to America and want them to collaborate. After doing so we can then be unified in culture and continue to work on success for all of America.
Assimilating immigrants in America gives a better opportunity for them; a second chance at life. The positives that come from America are so many. Freedom of religion, speech, press, you name it. “The United States is a great nation not only because of its awesome political and economic power, but also for her continuous aspirations to live up to the highest ideals of the human race: individual freedoms; the right to happiness, free speech, free thought; equal protection for all in the application of the laws; religious freedom; due process; racial equality, etc. Even if these aspirations are not yet complete realities, they are national, global and spiritual goals worth pursuing.”Laguatan, T. (2017, February 16). Goes to show how important The United States is for immigrants and how much of a blessing it would be to live here. The people that come into this land will come to a realization of how much of a privilege it is to be on this soil. Me personally, being a second-generation baby, makes me realize at times on how my life would have ended up if my parents never migrated to America back then. I am grateful for being here today and wish to give back to the community one way or another, as a token of gratitude for those who have made this place a home. Help is needed in America whether we realize it or not and immigrants can provide that help to keep a balance for the generations to come. “Immigrants and their children from the four corners of the globe created this country. Ideas from their native lands, technical knowledge, trade secrets, new arts and philosophies, varieties of cultural ingenuity, music, and all kinds of food are now integrated into American society and culture.”Laguatan, T. (2017, February 16). Migrants have already been exchanging information for decades in this land, which has allowed it to continue growing successfully. This second chance at life will open the arms of immigrants to The United States and inspire them to give back with ideas, music, culture, etc. all the good. It is a fantastic idea for assimilation here. After all, we are the land of the free and the home of the brave.
While immigrants gain their “freedom”, others may be against it and say that instead of giving back they continue to take away from America. “Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African-American and Latino workers” BORJAS, G. J., Grunwald, M., Frank, T., Paterson, B., Dorfman, Z., & Strauss, B. (2016, September). The current US president, Donald Trump, said this in a canadential speech. You can see the negative that comes from immigrants coming into foreign lands and realize the burden of taking responsibility. How much more will immigrants take away from America before giving back? Or will they ever have the intentions of giving back to the community? There are always two sides to a story and what Donald Trump said is only one side. I totally understand with his statement, however, the other side fights for the freedom of the immigrants. You cannot simply mass deport immigrants back to their origins since it would be considered inhumane. Once again, the initial effect of immigration is only temporary; with time will the issue be resolved and the good will shine in the darkness.
Conclusion
Alas, emerging into one subcategory as Americans will bring new ideas, create an increase of social agreement with one another, and allow great benefits of opportunities for immigrants along with new jobs/ businesses to grow in communities not yet present or allow pre-existing communities to continue growing. Assimilated areas are already present in America, just look at your local store, school, or even workplace. Immigrants are a powerhouse of new ideas, technological advances, economic opportunities, and more that can continue to support the USA in all sorts of ways. By combining cultures and becoming one, us citizens can get along easier to focus on the more important things in our lives. America provides substantial amounts of support to new immigrants, which can help them start a new life. “This land was made for you and me.” I now understand the difficulties and dangers of assimilation yet I still have faith in humanity for America. In the end humans are humans; meaning that as brothers/ sisters we will help our kind of species through hardships and learn to get along. So why America? Why couldn’t it have been another place?