Cultural Values

Being a foreign student, Althen’s analysis of American ideals wasn’t the first time I realized the difference between cultures. Before I came to America, we had a family friend who is American and my family would be shocked at some of their behaviors. For example, when their 14-year-old daughter walked out of their house with sandals or sometimes even barefoot, we couldn’t believe it.

            Now that I’ve lived in the U.S. for 7 years, I’m accustomed to the U.S. values and feels like I’ve been assimilated into the culture. I’m much more aware of my privacy and became more informal in my life (as I’m slouching in my chair while writing this post).

            One value I want to focus on is individualism. As Althen states: “It is not unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of about twenty-two and who are still living with their parents to pay their parents for room and board” (9). If you told me about this phenomenon before I came to U.S., I would be really surprised. If any parents charged their kids for room and board in China, they would be seen as bad parents and others would consider it abnormal. Under the traditional Chinese ideal, parents would even buy a new house for their children, or worst case make sure they own a house so their next generation has a guaranteed future. However, as you probably already know this phenomenon is very common in America, which portrays the difference between traditional Chinese values and American values.

            Another major difference I noted in America is the amount of respect for elders. In contrary to China where children at a young age are taught to respect the elderly, Americans do not show a noticeable respect to the elderly in society. Perhaps this is due to the ideal of equality that everyone is equal. In China and most Asian cultures, children are expected to pay a tremendous amount of respect to their parents and grandparents. A common example is that children can never address their parents or grandparents by their name. Such behavior is seen as extremely rude and uncivilized. Here in U.S., I would hear my friend call their parents by their first name quite commonly. Another example is that in Asian culture, children are expected to take care of the elderly, and this responsibility is can be viewed as a priority over the children’s own family. People would look down upon others who failed to take adequate care for their parents. In America, people are not expected to spend their own time and effort to care for their parents. It’s very admirable of them for those who actually care for the elderly but the elderly themselves do not expect much from their children.

            Obviously, there are many different values between cultures and I don’t expect everyone to accept different cultural ideals. However, I hope that whoever reads this can be more aware of different cultures around the world and be more accepting towards people of different cultural backgrounds.