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Chrystian Sears

Professor Batty

English 28

13 December 2018

Keep the Culture

Though some people may argue that immigrants should assimilate to American

culture, I say immigrants should maintain their culture when traveling to the United

States. Obtaining an American culture has its benefits of course but keeping their own

culture will be more beneficial for them and those in their environment as well. The

diversity in the workforce is well appreciated by almost all companies, America’s culture

has been shaped by the cultural diversity brought into this country by different people for

several years. Also, most families have a tradition to keep alive that is very important to

them so their culture must be carried along.

Assimilating to American culture has few benefits for immigrants. Opportunity is

presented to them when they sort of “fit in”, or gel with their surrounding peers. Being

culturally diviated, people will immigrants as being different and may be subjected to

dealing with racism and discrimination on any given day in America where racism is very

common. According to an article written by Desiree Baolian Qin, Niobe Way, and

Meenal Rana, “Recent research shows that Asian American youth consistently report

higher levels of peer discrimination and harassment in and out of school than their

non-Asian peers.” (Desiree Baolian Qin, Niobe Way, Meenal Rana). These are just one
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of the issues that immigrants have to deal with if keeping their culture that much of

importance to them. discrimination not only on the street or at a simple convenience store

but in our schools as well where students should feel free and accepted is unacceptable.

This could make living in America very difficult and allows a person to question whether

or not their culture is worth enduring such hardship. Keeping a culture has more benefits

to be embraced than trading it in for a new one​.

When migrating to America, immigrants may not be able to travel with all of

personal possessions but one of the few things they can take with them is their culture

simply because a culture does not have to be anything physical. Culture can be defined

through music or art but it can also be regarded as intellectual achievement and

philosophy. The culture in America is so diverse that you can not specify it without

identifying the numerous amounts of different cultures within America. William Branigin

states that multiculturalism is in fact apart of America’s’ way of life. His statement, “The

other aspects of traditional American core values are ones that have been embraced by

immigrant peoples as diversity and multiculturalism have taken root in the United

States,” (William Branigin) touches on the conventional values of how America is based

on the engaging of different cultures and each one being accepted into American society​.

There are many benefits of being surrounded by people who are culturally

diverse. Having differences within a working environment is very good for business and

productivity according to research from, “13 Benefits and Challenges of Cultural

Diversity in the Workplace,” Hult Blog by Katie Reynalds. She also states that hiring
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people of multicultural backgrounds will bring people of better skill and benefit from

their success, it is a great opportunity for professional and personal growth, and that

diversity in a workplace will target a wide variety of different markets. ” Making

diversity an important part of the recruiting process will broaden your talent pool of

prospective employees. Not only does hiring from a more diverse talent pool makes your

business attractive to ambitious, globally minded candidates, it also helps you to keep

them on board.” (Katie Reynalds). By hiring people of contrasting cultures, it will in fact

improve organizations significantly and will keep people on board with your workforce.

Besides the cultures of immigrants making America so diverse, the topic can not

be fully covered if the importance of keeping their culture was not brought up. In an

excerpt from, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” by Gloria Anzaldua, she tells a story of

how giving up he traditional ways is frowned up by her Latino community. Several

remarks were made to her such as, “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the

oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language,” and this

is just one of many.

As studies show, assimilating to American culture is not such a bad thing. As well

as retaining one’s own culture will not negatively affect a person as well. Personally, I

believe anybody has the right to be able to choose whether or not they keep or change

their culture. When it comes to deciding whether or not someone should adopt America’s

culture, I suggest they just keep their culture and continue to carry on the tradition of

keeping the United States culturally diverse. In a way, it is very important that

immigrants keep their culture when coming into this country. Their culture is the
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backbone of our multiculturalism and without that, who knows where our society would

be had we not observed, accepted, and adopted some new things from migrants. Again,

assimilating to American culture definitely has advantages of its own. For example, an

immigrant would blend right into society and do not raise any eyebrows due to adapting

a common way of life in America. Those who stick with their old culture have been

statistically proven to thrive and do better in this type of society. Yes, they will face

hardship but there is an obstacle in almost challenge we as people face. The one thing

that almost all cultures have in common is that we learn how to overcome these obstacles.
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Works Cited Page

Reynolds, Katie. “13 Benefits and Challenges of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace Hult Blog.”

Hult Blog, Hult International Business School, 26 June 2018,

www.hult.edu/blog/benefits-challenges-cultural-diversity-workplace/​.

"Immigrants Shunning the Idea of Assimilation." ​Family in Society: Essential Primary Sources,​

edited by K. Lee Lerner, et al., Gale, 2006, pp. 429-434. ​Opposing Viewpoints in Context,​

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2688300166/OVIC?u=lavc_main&sid=OVIC&xi

d=7b40f42d​. Accessed 18 Oct. 2018.

Qin, Desiree Baolian, et al. “The ‘Model Minority’ and Their Discontent: Examining

Peer Discrimination and Harassment of Chinese American Immigrant Youth.” New

Directions for Child & Adolescent Development, vol. 2008, no. 121, Fall 2008, pp.

27–42. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/cd.221.

Anzaldua, Gloria. ​How to Tame a Wild Tongue​.

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