country. Third, Americans like cards, sometimes I can find cards are
delivered to my American friends without special reasons. As far as I look
at Americans, they seem not to care what other people do as a whole, while
they think it's important to keep relation-ships between them and their
friends and them and their parents."
AMERICANS AND MONEY
MARY'S FEELING BLUE
Mary Rathbun, 57, spent a restless night in the San Francisco jail
thinking about the "magical cookies" that she baked to add to her fixed
income. "The police wouldn't let me have one before I went to jail," she
said. "I might have slept better if they had." Mary started her home baking
business six months ago after a back injury forced her to quit her job as a
grave-yard shift waitress. "I was a waitress for 43 years. I was good at
it."
Mary's dozen magical brownies, which were baked with a lot of
marijuana, were taken Wednesday night from her apartment, along with 20
pounds of pot and large amounts of sugar, margarine and flour. Mary, who
has no previous criminal record, admitted doing a great business out of her
home selling her "health food cookies." She said that she wouldn't give
away her special recipe.
Mary advertised her "original recipe brownies" for $20 a dozen. Her
lack of carefulness, especially taking orders over the phone from anyone
amazed and amused the police officers who arrested her. "Life is a gamble.
I played by the rules for 57 years. Then I gambled and lost."
True, Americans enjoy money and the things it can buy. But in defense
of the so-called materialistic American, one expert in American culture
points out, ". . . however eager we are to make money, we are just as eager
to give it away. Any world disaster finds Americans writing checks to
relieve distress. Since the war we have seen the spectacle of the United
States sending billions and billions of dollars' worth of goods to
countries less fortunate than we. Write some of it off, if you will, to a
desire to buy political sympathy; there is still an overplus of goodwill
strictly and uniquely American. Generosity and materialism run side by
side."
The average American is also accused of being "rough around the edges"
-that is, of lacking sophistication in manners and understanding of things
cultural. He tries hard to polish those edges through education and travel.
But no matter how much he learns and sees, his interests are less with the
past than with the present and future, less with the decorative than with
the functional. He may be bored by medieval art but fascinated by modern
engineering. Foreigners will find him always ready to compare cultures,
though he may conclude that American methods are more efficient and
therefore better. In expressing his views, he may be blunt to the point of
rudeness. He admires efficiency and financial success. Eager to get as much
as possible for his time and money, he is sometimes impatient, tense, and
demanding. Often, he is in a hurry and unable to relax. His intensely
competitive outlook is probably his greatest fault. But one must give him
credit for his virtues: he is friendly, spontaneous, adaptable, efficient,
energetic, and kindhearted. All things considered, he is a likable guy.
Whose American Dream?
"All men are created equal," says the Declaration of Independence.
This statement does not mean that all human beings are equal
in ability or ambition. It means, instead, that all people should be
treated equally before the law and given equal privileges and
opportunities, insofar as government can control these. In practice, this
ideal often does not work perfectly. There have always been those who would
deny the rights of others for their own self-interest. There are times when
the American people need to be reminded that any denial of basic rights is
a weakening of the total system. However, equal treatment and equal
opportunity for all are ideals toward which American society is moving ever
closer.
The American belief in equality of opportunity is illustrated by the
Horatio Alger myth. Horatio Alger was a nineteenth-century American
novelist who wrote stories about poor boys who became successful. His books
told about the little newsboy or bootblack who, because he was hardworking,
honest, and lucky, grew up to become rich and respected. These popular
"rags-to-riches" stories exemplified the American Dream-the belief that any
individual, no matter how poor, can achieve wealth and fame through
diligence and virtue.
The "American Dream"
In the United States there is a belief that people are rewarded for
working, producing, and achieving. Many people believe that there is
equality of opportunity that allows anyone to become successful. This
belief is illustrated by stories written by a nineteenth-century American
novelist, Horatio Alger, who wrote about the" American Dream." In his
stories he described poor people who became rich because of their hard
work, honesty, and luck. The stories reinforced the idea that all
individuals, no matter how poor, were capable of becoming wealthy as long
as they were diligent and virtuous. For many Americans, however, Horatio
Alger's "rags-to-riches" stories do not represent the reality of
opportunity. Many poor immigrants who came to the United States in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries were able to rise on the social and
economic scales. Today, however, the poor generally do not rise to the
middle and upper classes. The" American Dream" is now described as a myth;
it is still difficult for several million Americans to "get ahead."
Which Kind of University?
These excerpts provide two versions of life on North American
University campuses. Which version would be most helpful to foreign
students in general? Should a choice be made?
A college community is an interesting and lively place. Students
become involved in many different activities-extracurricular, religious,
social and athletic. Among the extracurricular activities are college
newspapers' musical organizations, dramatic clubs, and political groups.
Some of these have faculty advisers. Many religious groups have their own
meeting places where services and social activities can be held. Student
groups run parties of all types-from formal dances to picnics. Most
colleges have a student union where students can get together for lunch,
study sessions, club meetings, and socializing.
At many schools, campus life revolves around fraternities (social and,
in some cases, residential clubs for men) and sororities (similar clubs for
women). These organizations exist on more than 500 campuses. The best known
are national groups with many chapters at schools throughout the country.
Their names are Greek letters such as Alpha Delta Phi. These groups have
been much criticized for being cruel and prejudiced because membership is
limited and selective. A student must be invited to join. There is often
great competition among freshmen and sophomores who want to join. Those who
seek membership must go through rush (a period when prospective members
visit different houses to meet and be evaluated by current members). The
whole experience can be very painful if a student goes through rush and
then is not asked to pledge (become a trial member of) any of the houses he
or she has visited. Sororities and fraternities also tend to limit
membership to one particular racial and religious group, thereby depriving
its members of the wonderful opportunity that college offers for broadening
social contacts. However, these groups do help students find friends of
similar backgrounds; thus, they help combat loneliness for those away from
home.
Student life at American universities is chaotic during the first week
of each quarter or semester. Registering for classes, becoming familiar
with the buildings on campus, buying books, adding and dropping classes,
and paying fees are confusing for everyone. During this busy period there
is little time for students to anticipate what they will later encounter in
the classroom.
International students, accustomed to their countries' educational
expectations, must adapt to new classroom norms in a foreign college or
university. Whereas in one country prayer may be acceptable in a classroom,
in another it may be forbidden. In some classrooms around the world
students must humbly obey their teacher's commands and remain absolutely
silent during a class period. In others, students may talk, eat, and smoke
during lectures as well as criticize a teacher's methods or contradict his
or her statements. It is not always easy to understand a new educational
system.
Diversity in Education
There is considerable variety in university classrooms in the United
States. Because of diverse teaching methods and non-standardized curricula,
no two courses are identical. Undergraduate courses are considerably
different from graduate courses. The classroom atmosphere in expensive,
private universities may differ from that in community colleges which are
free and open to everyone. State-funded universities have different
requirements and expectations than do parochial colleges. Nevertheless,
there are shared features in American college and university classrooms
despite the diversity of educational institutions of higher learning.
Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
