《当代美国社会与文化》课程论文
What Americans Think
When it comes to the topic of people in one country, we always pay attention to their values. Compared with ours, Americans’are a lot different. Maybe, that’s what we called cultural diversity.
Firstly, let’s talk about liberty. As a nation consisting of different kinds of people, Americans never like being tied. Thus, they call for liberty in every single aspect. When children have lessons, they want an environment full of freedom. When adults work on their tasks, they just think freely and get different ideas. When the elderly get time to do what they like, they usually travel everywhere. All these cases show Americans’greatest values, chasing liberty.
At the same time, Chinese are no more than Americans. Result from the history when there were slavers throughout the country, Chinese are not courageous enough to seek liberty, although this phenomenon is getting much better today. Comparing these two countries, liberty is more American.
Then, our topic turns to equality. Being a developed country, America thinks highly of equality. I think that is the first thing for Americans to consider when they try to develop fast. In fair conditions, different competitors can do much better in their work. In fact, equality is practicedin many territories. NBA, NFL and so on are typical in carrying it into practice, and that’s the reason why they are so popular across the
world. Another good example is American commercial world, where fair competitions are most needed. In America, even a CEO is like an average person, and he never acts like an arrogant man. So in this case, almost everyone has chances to do what they like, because people are equal to each other.
In China, maybe things are totally different. Without any good relationship, you may not get a good job, especially in a government department. As a result, bribe and graft occur in various ways. In my opinion, only if Chinese do like Americans will our economy gets better.
Thirdly, what I’m going to talk about is individualism. American parents always teach their children like this,” You are the best.” I assume it the best way to show individualism. Based on this, American young people areconfident to do everything. Let’s take Forrest Gump as an instance. Forrest Gump, the lead role, has difficulty in his study. However, his mother just keeps encouraging him;” You are as smart as other people.”In the later several years, Gump finds that he has gift in running and Ping-Pong. After the war in Vietnam, Gump becomes a fisher and enjoys his life. It’s the best ending we like to see, isn’t it?
Individualism is popular in America, not in China. In order to pass the college entrance examination, millions of young people spend every piece of time in studying. Thus, they are just too busy to show individualism. As a matter of fact, it’s even not allowed in high school. In the view of
