ipl-logo

Cultural Values

882 Words4 Pages

The United States, also called the melting pot of the world, is made up of a variety cultures. Each culture has its own language, beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors that they are accustom to. Values are the standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly (p.45). Achievement and success, individualism, hard work, efficiency and practicality, science and technology, material comfort, freedom, democracy, equality, group superiority make up the U.S core values created by sociologist Robin Williams in 1965. Author James Henslin of Sociology, A down-to-earth Approach has updated these values to incorporate education, religiosity, romantic love, leisure, self-fulfillment, physical fitness, youthfulness, and concern for the environment. One of the most important U.S values in my life right now is education. According to Henslin, “Americans are expected to go as far in school as their abilities and finances allow” (p. 51). As a teen I had a rough time in school. I was not always focused on my studies as I am now that I’ve matured. In the 11th grade of high school, I decided to drop out. My attendance was so low that I ultimately did not receive credit for the work I had already done. My 2 older siblings had also dropped out of high school. Seeing members of my primary group, a small group …show more content…

Material comfort is having the basic necessities such as nutrition, medical care, and housing as well as recreational objects. Some of these objects range from classic cars and boats to computer games (p. 51). This value is not important to me because of how I was raised. While I think these types of luxuries can be amazing to have, I look at myself as being very frugal when it comes to my finances. I didn’t grow up with a lot of these luxuries therefore I don’t have a strong desire to have them at this moment in time

Show More
Related

  • Race In America

    1856 Words  | 8 Pages

    To no one’s surprise, most Americans are aware that education is a necessity in life. Not only does it allow one to further their knowledge, but it can offer freedom from anything holding them back, like poverty. A bar graph statistic from the Congressional Budget Office found that people with their Master’s degree between ages of 45-54 years old make $130,000, whereas high school graduates between the same ages only make about $70,000 (Dent). Even though America offers some of the best education in the world, many do not realize the impact that social class has on one’s education. Whereas most other nations fund their schools equally, America spends much more on the more affluent districts.

    Read More

  • Still Separate Still Unequal

    730 Words  | 3 Pages

    Public school is one of the primary sources of education for many children in the United States, therefore it should be the school 's sole purpose to teach them the essential elements they need to succeed in life. This means more than teaching math, science, history, and English. A school, primarily high school, must provide courses that focus on a student 's future career plans, courses that challenge a student academically, and courses that help a student navigate their life as adults. Without classes that help students expand and delve into their future career choices, they can limit their views of success. An excellent example of this can be found in Jonathan Kozol 's Still Separate, Still Unequal, particularly in his interviews with the students of Fremont High School in Los Angeles.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of America Skips School By Benjamin Barber

    208 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the essay, “America Skips School”, Benjamin R. Barber states how he thinks education is not of great importance in America, and he gives advice on how to fix educational issues. He describes how Americans lack simple literacy skills, and says Americans do not truly value educating future generations. Barber says that the blame gets put upon the teachers for not teaching children the proper material, and often times the children themselves get blamed for not carrying the responsibility of the future properly. But Barber himself believes the true blame is children are mimicking society’s actions, and ignoring what they are taught in school. He says children don’t take education seriously because society shows them they can advance and become

    Read More

  • Integrity In Calvin Coolidge's Speech

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    C.S. Lewis once said that “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” While reading Calvin Coolidge’s Senate Speech, it was this quote that lingered in my mind most prominently. Integrity is a major value that is discussed throughout Coolidge’s speech and a value that is becoming increasingly relevant as the world continues to grow, technology increases, and society becomes more corrupt. Integrity, in itself is a very important quality that a public servant must possess, in order to be an effective leader and in order to navigate through the trials and difficulties of modern day society. Calvin Coolidge specifically discusses these values when he talks about “Doing the day’s work.”

    Read More

  • Education For Democracy Martha Nussbaum Analysis

    671 Words  | 3 Pages

    School is a place where you go to spend about half of your life learning about topics that simply do not interest you or that truly won’t help you in the future. The U.S government tells the teachers what they need to teach in their schools for the class curriculums, so that the students can learn a healthy amount of material. The best thing is that many high schools fail to teach their students important things. Many teachers just pass students along through their class, because they don’t want to hold them back and deal with them for another year, but soon enough most of us move onto college. I’ve seen many people fail during college, because their high school did not push them to try to achieve great grades.

    Read More

  • Inadequacy In America

    676 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A large fraction of our total economy has grown up around providing service and counseling to inadequate people-- and inadequate people are the main product of government compulsion schools.” The government-- the face of a nation, the commission of our founding fathers’, the building blocks of freedom-- except no one is free. Political figures and journalism authors’ place blame on 21st century students for “failing America;” however, monkey see-- monkey do. Contemporary students are the face of reform; parent-- students educational standards, shrewd motivational obligations, and the discrepancy of learning or obeying orders, only a few of the problematic burdens placed on modernized students (Gatto 25). Parents have always been expected to teach their children right from wrong, so why has the blame for inadequacy now been placed on the child, opposed to the adult?

    Read More

  • Sheila Kennedy Minimum Wage Essay

    2154 Words  | 9 Pages

    From her investigation, she discovers that “low-income children growing up in states that have greater income inequality are dropping out of high school at higher rates than are children living in states with less income inequality” (Kennedy). Given that the wealth gap is constantly growing, many people in the lower and middle class will struggle to climb the ladder to wealth. Many students that struggle economically would drop out of school if they “perceive a lower benefit to remaining in school–even if they aren’t struggling academically” (Kennedy). This is horrible for those who study well in school, yet they have to drop out since their family is in need of financial assistance. Students are not at fault of this since they cannot choose where they grow up.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Are Too Many People Going To College

    1740 Words  | 7 Pages

    He believes that we have made getting a further education a ticket to becoming respected in society or a “symbol of first-class citizenship” (Murray 250). He claims that the problem starts when politicians, guidance counselors and educators tell young people they should try their best to get into college. They push this on students in schools all the time. They do this because they are following society’s wishes or “the larger culture” (Murray 251). His opinion is that we are pushing something that is not accessible or attainable by the majority of the country and creating unrealistic expectations of the generation that is going through all of this.

    Read More

  • Ten Core Values That Make Up The American Culture

    403 Words  | 2 Pages

    First and foremost culture James M, Henslin defines culture as “the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects that are passed down from one generation to the next are all of the characteristics that are indicative of culture” (Henslin 2015). Each different country has a different culture, in which, a lot of aspects can be a like and can be different. An abundance amount of people can take the american culture for granted. Robin Williams identifies the ten core values that make up the U.S society in the american culture and those factors being-Achievement and success, Individualism, Hard work, Efficiency and practicality, Science and technology, Material comfort, Freedom, Democracy, Equality, and Group Superiority.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Lyndon B Johnson's Speech: The Great Society

    1057 Words  | 5 Pages

    The idea of classroom causing problems for America’s society is elaborated when President Johnson explains that many children in America don’t have enough money to afford school. “There your children’s lives will be shaped. Our society will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan the farthest reaches of thought and imagination.” In order for a society to be great, education is the foundation; schools are where child learn about their world, and what it is they will do in the future to earn money to live a good life. And to better prove his idea Johnson states, “Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it,” then questions what will happen in years when time has become elapsed to conclude any efforts are needed to come into play for there to be a Great Society.

    Read More

  • Generation Debt Summary

    675 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, many don’t want to drop out from their studies; they want a better education and better jobs that will pay them well. Not to have to work in a job that pays them low wages and to top it off still have to pay the loan they applied for to stay in college. It’s an everyday struggle young people go through every year just to stay in college to get their education. In the book On the Frontier of Adulthood Frank F. Furstenberg state that “More youth are extending education, living at home longer, and moving haltingly, or stopping altogether, along the stepping stones of adulthood.” Young people not reaching their adulthood, and still living at home to pursue, there dream of going to college.

    Read More

  • Individuality Vs. Conformity In Public Schools

    781 Words  | 4 Pages

    Public schooling is a traditional system that almost everyone knows. It is a well -known system that people admire. Public schooling has two important goals it tries to instill in every student: every student will gain personal fulfillment as well as becoming well-rounded, highly educated citizens. This traditional system has been admired for so long, however, there are several criticisms towards it as well. Schools want students to embrace their uniqueness and show it off to the world with pride.

    Read More

  • Sociological Imagination In Education

    1810 Words  | 8 Pages

    As Americans, we view the Constitution as a stepping stone to making the great country we live in today. Yet, we the people of the United States failed to realize another component in order to form a perfect union. Which is to establish and promote equal opportunities for a quality education for all. However, we live in a society where social locators such as class, gender, and race are huge factors in the determination of one’s educational future.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Education

    1403 Words  | 6 Pages

    In school, the teachers are focused more on our academics than our life problems. Although the school does teach us some of the basic life skills that we need, they do not teach us the most important ones that revolve around our lives every single day. “Though high school and college are excellent in

    Read More

  • Personal Values Essay

    1404 Words  | 6 Pages

    The two important values that I have learnt are the independence and the respect. I learnt these two values since my childhood. One of the values is the independence. Independence means that you can support yourself without owning or depending on yourself concerned with livelihood or studying. You can make decision of your life without being controlled by the others.

    Read More

More about Cultural Values

Open Document