AHaskizzle asked:


I am looking for, about the top 10 female celebs (paris hilton, tara reid) that have influenced american culture in either a positive or negitive way. I am doing this for a research paper, so please help. Any ideas would be great.

Chester

bakedcheesesnacks asked:


I’ve visited some reservations in the Smoky Mountains area and a town in Alaska. It seems that the presentations they put on for tourist seem fake. Are there really that many references to animals and nature in Native American culture? I was wondering if these motifs are from the concept of the “noble savage”.

Edric

ItsJustMe asked:


what is missed most from the heritage ?
challenges with learning English or not speaking it well ?
What is one thing you would like people to know about your country?
If thier is one part of the Mexican culture you could bring to the American culture what would it be and why?

Grayson

hippygurl89 asked:


I’m an American with dreams of moving to Ireland, but don’t get any ideas, I’m not the stereotypical greedy and work obsessed American. I’m a loyal vegeterian that yearns for the simpler things in life and just wants to enjoy life to the fullest. I’ve been enchanted by what i’ve heard about the Irish culture and many of my distant ancestors derived from Ireland, so it has long been my dream to move to Ireland. Do you believe that it would be too much of a struggle for me to move to Ireland or do you think that I “dumb” american would be accepted/welcomed in Ireland. Thanks for your help!

GreyHome

John Nilson asked:


Traditionally, ethnic minority groups often face serious problems and Vietnamese Americans are not an exception. Probably the most serious problems they faced and are still facing in education that actually reflects all other problems this ethnic group suffers from in the US.

Problems and difficulties Vietnamese Americans faced in the past

First of all, it should be said that ethnic minorities traditionally were in a disadvantageous position compared to the dominant ethnic groups. The US is not an exception, though a lot of efforts were made to change the situation for better and make American society more tolerant and provide all ethnic groups with really equal opportunities. Nonetheless, the position of Vietnamese Americans was quite difficult, especially in the past.

It should be pointed out that the mass immigration from Vietnam to the US was marked by quite a negative attitude to Vietnamese arriving to the US because of the Vietnamese war which took lives of many Americans. At the same time, Vietnamese arriving in the US were really strangers for the local community because they had different culture, language, traditions, mentality. Moreover, the negative past experience of extremely complicated relations between the US and Vietnam did not contribute to the easier integration of American Vietnamese.

Speaking about their problems, including those related to the sphere of education, it should be said that one of the major problems was the language. For instance, in 1990 Vietnamese children lived in families where the heads of the households basically had poor English proficiency . This was particularly widely spread within the families of the first generation of Vietnamese Americans, i.e. families that just arrived in the US and their children were born in the new country or arrived at an early age.

Obviously, it was quite difficult for these children to get integrated into American life and achieve positive results in the education, i.e. have academic because they lack the knowledge of English which was the basic language used in schools. In fact, the proficiency in English was and actually remains one of the basic conditions of successful learning because even though children may have equal academic abilities they can be less successful in learning because of language problems.

Not surprisingly, that Vietnamese Americans were less likely to have a college education or a professional education than whites . In this respect, it is worthy of mention that poor English proficiency was not the only reason. In fact, one of the most important factors that prevented Vietnamese Americans from receiving higher education was their socio-economic position. It is not a secret that the vast majority of Vietnamese immigrants were poor and belonged to lower classes. Naturally, they could not afford educating their children similarly to the upper classes of American society. This is why many Vietnamese Americans were simply deprived of real opportunities to receive good education because of their poverty. Moreover, their poor social status also contributed to the negative attitude to Vietnamese Americans from the part of other students and lower self esteem of children representing this ethnic group compared to white and black Americans.

Finally, they Vietnamese Americans faced a very serious problem of racism that was really disturbing. For instance, in 1992, University of Miami pre-med Vietnamese American student Luyen Phan Nguyen, 19, was chased and beaten to death outside a Coral Springs, Florida, college party by the mob of about 15 young white men who used their fists, feet and beer bottles. Actually, he was slaughtered only because he had protested an insulting reference to his Vietnamese origin earlier at the party. What is even more shocking is the fact that the party crowd ignored the murder .

The strategies used to ameliorate the situation

Naturally, the situation could not remain unchanged. This is why certain steps were undertaken in order to ameliorate it. It should be said that the development of re-education camps was supposed to contribute to the faster integration of Vietnamese arriving from Vietnam to the new life in the US. however, this measure seems to be not very efficient because it merely helped Vietnamese people feel the real life within American community. Obviously, the closer integration of Vietnamese and local communities was needed.

At the same time, the development of strategy of ethnic tolerance was obviously extremely important and the general anti-segregation policy aiming at the integration of representatives of different ethnic groups in the education process. However, this strategy is not really fulfilled because, as a rule, the representatives of ethnic minorities constituted the overwhelming majority in schools, especially in the inner city .

At the same time, it is obvious that the major strategies, which really aim at the improvement of the position of Vietnamese Americans, should be focused on the improvement of their socio-economic position. However, there is a kind of vicious circle that is extremely difficult to break. To put it more precisely, the better social position can be gained due to the better education while the better education often turns to be inaccessible for the families of Vietnamese Americans because of their poverty. This is why, it is necessary to keep developing educational and social programs that would help Vietnamese Americans to receive higher education that could open new opportunities for them and substantially improve their life.

Current issues related to Vietnamese Americans in education

Nowadays, the situation is obviously better than it used to be even a decade ago. For instance, there are practically no serious language problems and Vietnamese American children are practically in the equal position compared to other ethnic groups. Nonetheless, there are still serious problems that are really important.

It should be said that socio-economic position of Vietnamese Americans did not improved significantly and often higher education is still hardly accessible to this category of students. Though it is worthy of mention that gradually this ethnic group progresses and their socio-economic position starts to improve but quite slowly.

Furthermore, nowadays, Vietnamese American students have to deal with the problem of bicultural conflicts between home and schools. It should be said that to a significant extent this conflicts are provoked by the generation gaps between children that grew up in American reality and their parents and even grandparents who still keep their traditions, perfectly remember their native country, and have not managed to change their mentality and get accustomed to the new lifestyle.

Basically, it is possible to single out four main bicultural problems Vietnamese Americans currently face . Firstly, parent and children tend to disagree on the nature and extent of parental authority. Secondly, many of the means of enforcing parental authority that were common in Vietnam are unacceptable in the US. Thirdly, parents and children have different perspectives on what aspects of American culture are desirable. And, finally, the role reversal of parents and children that frequently occurs in immigrant families is contrary to the cultural expectations of Vietnamese parents about their own roles.

Conclusion

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that Vietnamese Americans faced a number of problems in education. Nowadays, some of them are solved but there are still a lot of difficulties they have to overcome and basically they are related to the low economic position of their families and to their cultural background and contradictions between traditional Vietnamese and American cultures that provoke bicultural conflicts within Vietnamese Americans families.



Rhett

Airi asked:


I am American, but there is something about the Japanese culture that fits me more.

Benton

sweety asked:


I have to write an essay on this topic.can someone tell some topics(aspects) of american culture ,different from indian culture which i can include in my essay.

plzzzzz help me out. Thank UUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

Todd

debater asked:


White American Culture
1. likes Ambercrombie and Fitch
2. does not consider cheating in school a big deal
3. cares a great deal about how people see them on the outside, being popular is important to them, so they dress up and act to get attention
4. greed is good, arrogant is required to bully others and get your way, being nice gets you nowhere or too difficult, better to resort to cut throat tactics, like take steroids to win or look for other short cuts to reach the end game, 1st place is everything, 2nd place is loser; being overly emotional, loud, and hostile is good in negotiations and manipulating people to do what you want and there is no shame in doing it, being shallow is justified to get what you want, morals and ethics and being humble are no longer worth believing if you want to succeed in capitalism and attain social status.
The chinese way is the opposite.

Howard

Craig Chambers asked:


Do you love Native American Rattles and other Indian musical instruments? Rattles are excellent Native American icons representing Indian people and their unique customs. They are also among the most used musical instruments for playing in powwows and other ceremonies throughout most Indian tribes. Rattles, for many generations and for many groups of American Indians, have always played a large part in the spiritual connection with the creator as well as for use in social gatherings.

As you research the interesting history of American Indians and their use of Native American rattles, you will find that they play an important role among the Indigenous people and are essential to the tribal rituals in which they are used. It is said that they symbolize the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. The animal kingdom is exemplified in the form of the container or decorative feather of the rattle. The mineral kingdom is represented by the stones that create the sound or also by the paint used for the artwork painted on the rattle. And, the plant kingdom is symbolized by the handle.

When studying the uses of Native American rattles and how they are played, you will learn that almost every tribe and Indian culture including the Navajo culture, play rattles in their ceremonial rituals. Among the many variations of Indian rattles, along with the highly sought-after gourd rattles and turtle shell rattles, the simple rawhide rattle is the most common in Native American culture. The images, such as the Navajo bear or Navajo eagle, used in the artwork placed on the rattles, vary with each tribe. You will find it intriguing that the different tribes including the Cherokee, Navajo, Apache, Pueblo, Zuni and Hopi, can all be distinguished by the variations of the beautiful art work on their hand crafts. Something these tribes do have in common is that they all play rattles in the many ceremonial rituals and in music, dance, medicine and spirituality.

The Native rattles are really very exquisite and are fashioned using a number of natural materials such as turtle shell, leather, rawhide, bead work and Native American feathers. Fur, fringe, seeds, rocks, antlers, horns, bones and shells are used to give it that unique native style. Clay beads, blue corn, manzanita seeds or small smooth rocks such as those found near the mouth of an ant hill, are also sometimes placed in the rattles to create the unique sound.

Native culture has always used music, songs, stories and legends to communicate their cultural beliefs and customs to each other and to those around them. It is in harmony with these ways of learning that rattles have come to be a significant aspect in the ritualistic ceremonies of the Indian people.

That is the reason there is nothing more exciting than owning genuine Indian musical instruments and hand crafts. You can easily buy Native rattles online and sometimes in stores that sell southwestern home decorating items. If you are intrigued by authentic Indian musical instruments, or are searching for the perfect instrument to use in your drumming circles or powwows, you will definitely enjoy the wonderful sound of Native American rattles.



Oscar

someg asked:


Ancient Greek culture spread throughout the South Asian, North African and European worlds, and is, arguably, the basis of all western society that followed. American culture today is all-pervasive. Movies, fashion, business, language and other iconography are all throughout the world.

Any views?

Ely