learning log #4

The Kuma article, “Cultural Assimilation and it’s Delusions” really had me thinking from the beginning when he was explaining what the Ford company did with the immigrant workers they hired “helping them assimilate American cultural beliefs and practices, including ‘table manners’ and ‘the care of their teeth’ (65). I was a little bit offended that the Ford Company thought that their new employees did not know how to do those simple things just because they were immigrants. I think that they indeed do know how to care for their hygiene and they have their own table manners, but the company thought the employee’s way was incorrect simply because it was not the “American Way”.  The rest of the reading talked about the concept of assimilation and how different people view it when it comes to assimilating to the American culture. When Kuma talked about the way Peter Salins views assimilation to the American society I was shocked by the three things he wanted people to do to become truly assimilated, “As per this contract, immigrants "would be welcome as full members of the American family" if and only if they (a) accept English as the primary language, (b) take pride in their American identity, and (c) live by the Protestant ethic” (67).  I do not think anyone needs to give up their first language to live in America, I do believe that they should make an effort to learn English because it will make life easier in the long run. I also think people need to take pride in America, but they do not need to lose or lower the pride they have for their homeland in order to live in this country. The Protestant ethic does not coincide with everyone’s beliefs and therefore I do not believe that in order to be a true American that one needs to have the same beliefs as everyone else. I think one of the things that makes our country so great is all the diversity it has to offer and if everyone assimilated to the way Salins thinks we should, then America would not be what it is today and the culture would be completely different.  The “Old Stock” immigrants were the first to come to this country, but that does not mean their way is the way everyone has to live by, they came here to escape religious persecution so why were they trying to get everyone to convert to their beliefs?

 In Kuma’s article “Problematizing Cultural Stereotypes in TESOL” he talked about how even though the TESOL community is supposed to be away from stereotyping the students and learners there are still some stereotyping going on particularly in the Asian community.  The stereotypes that are given to Asians are not just in the TESOL classroom, but in the academic setting in general. People think they are anti-social with class interactions, are very obedient to authority figures and they do have good critical thinking skills. Those generalizations can be very offensive to anyone and we need to learn to step away from them and look at every person as an individual. As TESOL educators we need to try extra hard to not assume things about our students when we first see them, we need to let them be their own person and achieve their goal of learning a second language. Even though we live in a society full of stereotypes, I know we can look past them and help the students succeed.