As a person who has been involved with Foreign Student Exchange Programs on a volunteer basis for the past decade and the father of an adopted Thai daughter, I have mixed feelings on this whole problem to be honest. The success or failure of multi-culturalism is not a "black and white" (no pun intended) issue. Traditionally in America it was the white, European-descent people who were, for the most part, less distinguishable as "immigrants" (in a t-shirt and jeans, a Swiss national is indistinguishable from a British national for instance) ... and so, were able to integrate more easily. Visible minorities, no matter if they dress "American" or not will likely have a harder time with integration.

My daughter came to Canada at age 12, knowing very little English but now speaks it with a distinct Newfie accent! That said, eventhough she is almost 21 now and has returned home to visit her natural family almost every summer since coming here, I cannot help but feel that she has in some way lost touch with her Thai heritage. Aside; several years ago some kids on a school bus taunted her with "Chinky, chink" remarks ... had she been Swiss or Belgian or Norwegian for instance, I doubt she would've been teased at all ...

Multi-culturalism vs Melting Pot? No easy solutions I'm afraid ... both have their advantages and disadvantages and either way, one walks a fine line ...

Intersting points Jerry ... I'm no fan of this "political correctness for its own sake" thing either ... that concept has been carried waaaaaay too far!

Have to disagree about the "different races" ... there is only the "Human Race" ... made up of various ethnically distinct groups.

Yes, my daughter wears typical North American/Western clothing ... but so do most Thais in her homeland ...

and yes, some Europeans are more "visually distinct" than their northern European counterparts ... and I would say that the immigrants from those "less white" looking countries probably had a bit more difficult time with integration into American society.

Mornhm -

I have no problem at all with maintaining heritage, in your home.  But to say that I can speak German and then expect others to adapt to me is my beef - why can the Mexican immigrants expect me to tolerate their not learning English?  I don't give a hoot what one does at home.

The average Jewish person is a prime example.  Most all, except the most orthodox, melt into society perfectly.  Yet in their homes, they may celebrate purely Jewish holidays, eat ceremonial Jewish meals, etc.  Good for them.

And I don't agree with your comments about classes, and those "at the bottom getting crushed".  

Yes, the great majority of the early Amercians were English, but the Germans weren't far behind.  My own grandfather came to Columbus from Switzerland because of the large number of German speaking people here, but merely to aid him for the couple of years it took him to learn English and American ways.  None of them continued to speak German in public nor in their jobs; even to each other.  We have a German music club here where we eat Sauerbraten and other German dishes, but I sure don't speak German here at the office, except in jest once in a blue moon.

That is why you had the immigrant ghettos, predominantly in the big cities on the East coast - non-English speakers needed a safety net for a short while until they learned enough English to get along outside of a very close knit native group.  The same held true for the Irish in Boston too - although they naturally spoke English, they needed a safety net too for a while.

I never met my grandfather as he died before I was born.  But I've always wondered how awful things had to have been in much of Europe during the late 1800s to cause the wave of immigration to the U.S..  Imagine packing everything you can take in one or two trunks, braving the bowels of a stinky immigrant ship for the better part of a month, packed in like sardines with minimal sanitation and food, half of your fellow passengers constantly seasick, to go to a place where you knew no one, and didn't speak the language.  No National Geographic or the Travel Channel to give you any real idea of what to expect when you arrived either.

These people made our country what it is, or maybe, what it was.

We all should maintain some of our heritage; no agrument with that.  But to expect us to put up public signs and print gov't papers in Spanish - that's my beef.

Another total aside - ever wonder when the colonists lost their English accent?  Did Thomas Jefferson, Washington, etc. speak with an accent different than a Virginian of today?  Obviously we'll never really know, but it's just one of the goofy things I think about.

LOL buttgoat! I hear ya ... I was 2 1/2 mnths premature and birthed at less than 3 lbs ... so I grew up as the personification of the "runt of the litter", the proverbial 98 lb weakling ... also wore glasses, read a lot of books and built sci-fi models ... yup, I can identify with being singled out and picked on! LOL!! Needless to say that at age 50 I may not be "physically imposing", but I have a VERY thick skin!

It's ironic,... but the the natural tendency of kids to succumb to peer pressure, and want to fit in, and pick on the odd one,... tends to solve the problem naturally...
Adult immigrants may have more difficulty assimilating into a new culture and have more difficulty learning a new language, but kids want so badly to fit in, that they adapt more quickly...
Whether their parents want them to or not, they will start to act, and dress, and speak like the other kids, and have the same wants and goals...
... and in a generation or two,.. the problem solves itself no matter what the government does... or parents...

So what's the deal with small government right-wingers wanting to regulate what language people are allowed to speak, and what clothes you can wear, and how you can behave, and what you want to call yourself?...
Aren't we supposed to have freedoms and individual liberties?...  

You may find it annoying to see and hear people that are different or strange,... I do too, sometimes...
...but freedom has it's price, and accepting others for who they are is one of them...
... and the same laws that guarantee us a fair trial and equal justice, also requires that new members of society get the same... it may be costly and cumbersome, but it's the price we pay for freedom and equality...

Given a few generations, Mexicans  and Arabs will be more like us than different... I see it happening here everyday...

One of the best things you can do is to say hello,... people naturally want to feel comfortable in their community...
... resentment makes them resistant to change...

... and now,..
...I'd like to buy the world a Coke...  ...

Serowbot wrote on 10/18/10 at 11:22:21:


I'd say you're right on for the most part ... these days the exception being those fanatic Imans who actively brainwash & recruit new terrorists from American (& Canadian & British, etc.) born children of Arabic immigrants ... but thankfully this is the exception. I remember another weird case in British Columbia, Canada a few years ago where a young East Indian gal was killed by her father because she had become, in his opinion, "too Canadian" ... very, very sad ...

Jerry Eichenberger wrote on 10/18/10 at 11:56:40:

And yet you long for the melting pot of yore:

Quote:


Jerry, I think you don't know what the term melting pot means, because you say you desire it, but then you go on to also say "become one of us in all ways" -- those two things are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum!

And please tell me who gets to decide what constitutes "one of us" -- what if I disagree with your list? Suppose I say that all newcomers must learn Ojibwe? After all, shouldn't they have to learn an original language of this land? All signs should be in Ojibwe, and only Ojibwe. The heck if I'm going to spend my tax dollars paying for language services for a foreign language such as English!