Change is hard but it is very important to progress. As John F. Kennedy said, “ Change is the law of life.”(JKF) Life is the name of constantly adapting and catching up to everything around you. Assimilation is synonymous to change. The degree and process of this change are the most complicated aspects of assimilation. To some Americans today assimilation of immigrants has a negative connotation, while others strongly believe in “ assimilating people fully into America.”( Dinan 1)Yet none of these parties actually seem to provide the scale of assimilation or non assimilation. Perry Skerry, a professor of political science at the Boston College,MD argues “when Americans say they want immigrants to assimilate, they may think they know what they want, but in fact they don't understand the concept or its place in our history.” ( Skerry 2). Basically Skerry is highlighting the complexity of the issue and how it has been affected and altered throughout the history and continues to even today.
Peter D. Salins, a researcher and professor at Stony Brook University, wrote a book called Assimilation, American Style (1997) which tries define this complex issue.According to Salin, if the immigrants accepted English their national language, believed in the protestant work ethic and took pride in American identity upholding the American ideals of liberal democracy then at that point they would be fully assimilated into American society. ( Skerry 8). The very first idea is to accept english as national language. Since communication is absolutely necessary in order be successful anywhere in the world, it would make sense that most Americans expect immigrants to learn their language. However, should English be the only language spoken in the United States, because that is what it will lead to eventually. Yet at the same time if immigrants are not speaking english then they will be socially isolated. Furthermore, speaking English does not necessarily makes someone an American.They could speak, write and understand English yet still be emotionally connected to their culture (Skerry 8) Salins’ claim might have some effect for immigrants from non English speaking countries. However, he completely ignores the immigrants from English speaking countries. These immigrants will continue to be loyal to home countries despite having English as their native language.
To live you have to work. In order to find work you have know someone who is willing to give you work. Hence the communication is important as mentioned earlier. This is where it becomes important to assimilate or to even just survive to know English. However, parents of a lot of first generation immigrants deliberately chooses to stay from jobs where they have to speak English. Most of the time these jobs are not well paying, they minimize the scope of knowledge for the person, and sometimes they are even illegal. The lack of the knowledge of a language can limit the opportunities from what one can benefit. However, the research shows that most immigrants are working their way up toward the American dream. According to a study, most Asian immigrants are moving up with their wages almost matching the native born Americans; however Mexicans immigrants consistently experience a wage gap due to different unknown factors. Among other things researchers also indicates “ cultural differences in attitudes toward work” as reason for wage gap of Mexican immigrants ( Skerry 17). Ultimately we understand that immigrants need to work but that does not mean that everyone is not working. Furthermore, we know many native born Americans whom attitude toward work is simply not positive. Hence maybe some immigrants are assimilating with that negative aspects of American society.
Lastly, the “liberal democratic and egalitarian values” Salin talks about are being accepted by the immigrants. Skerry believes that these values are the hardest for immigrants to achieve ( Skerry 22). I think most immigrants do accept the democratic egalitarian values of American society. Most immigrant minorities are the ones marginalized and discriminated against in the American society. Hence they are the ones who want to be seen as equals and not outsiders. Saying that immigrants have a hard time grasping that everyone is equal and has the right to be heard would be an insult for those to come to America just for these freedoms.
I believe what assimilation should strive to achieve is a balance between a comfortable living in your new country while holding on to your cultural values. Learn English but do not forget your native language, try to work outside of your ethnic group and last but not least make your voice heard about what is right and what is wrong in the political process.
Works Cited
Skerry, Perry. "Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?" The Brookings Institution. The Brookings Institution, Mar.-Apr. 2000. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2000/03/immigration-skerry
John F. Kennedy." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2014. 30 October 2014.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkenn121068.html
Dinan, Stephen. "Assimilating Immigrants into the U.S.: New Citizens View America Differently." Washington Times. The Washington Times, 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/8/us-faces-need-assimilate-immigrants-new-citizens-v/?page=all
Peter D. Salins, a researcher and professor at Stony Brook University, wrote a book called Assimilation, American Style (1997) which tries define this complex issue.According to Salin, if the immigrants accepted English their national language, believed in the protestant work ethic and took pride in American identity upholding the American ideals of liberal democracy then at that point they would be fully assimilated into American society. ( Skerry 8). The very first idea is to accept english as national language. Since communication is absolutely necessary in order be successful anywhere in the world, it would make sense that most Americans expect immigrants to learn their language. However, should English be the only language spoken in the United States, because that is what it will lead to eventually. Yet at the same time if immigrants are not speaking english then they will be socially isolated. Furthermore, speaking English does not necessarily makes someone an American.They could speak, write and understand English yet still be emotionally connected to their culture (Skerry 8) Salins’ claim might have some effect for immigrants from non English speaking countries. However, he completely ignores the immigrants from English speaking countries. These immigrants will continue to be loyal to home countries despite having English as their native language.
To live you have to work. In order to find work you have know someone who is willing to give you work. Hence the communication is important as mentioned earlier. This is where it becomes important to assimilate or to even just survive to know English. However, parents of a lot of first generation immigrants deliberately chooses to stay from jobs where they have to speak English. Most of the time these jobs are not well paying, they minimize the scope of knowledge for the person, and sometimes they are even illegal. The lack of the knowledge of a language can limit the opportunities from what one can benefit. However, the research shows that most immigrants are working their way up toward the American dream. According to a study, most Asian immigrants are moving up with their wages almost matching the native born Americans; however Mexicans immigrants consistently experience a wage gap due to different unknown factors. Among other things researchers also indicates “ cultural differences in attitudes toward work” as reason for wage gap of Mexican immigrants ( Skerry 17). Ultimately we understand that immigrants need to work but that does not mean that everyone is not working. Furthermore, we know many native born Americans whom attitude toward work is simply not positive. Hence maybe some immigrants are assimilating with that negative aspects of American society.
Lastly, the “liberal democratic and egalitarian values” Salin talks about are being accepted by the immigrants. Skerry believes that these values are the hardest for immigrants to achieve ( Skerry 22). I think most immigrants do accept the democratic egalitarian values of American society. Most immigrant minorities are the ones marginalized and discriminated against in the American society. Hence they are the ones who want to be seen as equals and not outsiders. Saying that immigrants have a hard time grasping that everyone is equal and has the right to be heard would be an insult for those to come to America just for these freedoms.
I believe what assimilation should strive to achieve is a balance between a comfortable living in your new country while holding on to your cultural values. Learn English but do not forget your native language, try to work outside of your ethnic group and last but not least make your voice heard about what is right and what is wrong in the political process.
Works Cited
Skerry, Perry. "Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate?" The Brookings Institution. The Brookings Institution, Mar.-Apr. 2000. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2000/03/immigration-skerry
John F. Kennedy." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2014. 30 October 2014.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkenn121068.html
Dinan, Stephen. "Assimilating Immigrants into the U.S.: New Citizens View America Differently." Washington Times. The Washington Times, 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/8/us-faces-need-assimilate-immigrants-new-citizens-v/?page=all