American Values And Assumptions By Gary Althen Article Reviews Examples

Althen in this article, offers advice to foreign students in America. The first thing they have to understand the individualism aspect of Americans. The environment they have been exposed to makes them to perceive themselves as separate thus taking responsibilities for their own situations for their destinies and life. This is because they have not been brought up in a society that is communal as such, when young, they are taught to be independent. They are satisfied by freedom. The Americans have accepted this as their culture though it is received with disbelief by non-American cultures.
The individualistic aspect that they have adopted causes them to be competitive. It happens naturally. The competition is evident in entertainment, careers including business and academic. The competition develops when these individuals adopt the comparison trait on who is better than who. The competition tends to make one to always think about their own-self in attempts to remain superior.
Upon privacy and individualism, the other culture of the Americans is privacy. They are true believers in having some time alone in what is assumed they think about past and future events or recover psychological energy that might have been lost. As a result, they have set personal boundaries that only they themselves should cross and they develop negative attitudes to any individual who attempts to cross it.
Motivated by the Declaration of Independence, Americans are believers in utmost equality as all men have been created equal. No one is born superior to the other. While they believe in this, it is natural that at times, they find themselves treating others different. Each person’s opinion is valued.
Upon the understanding that they are equal, Americans have the tendency to be so informal. Regardless of position one holds in society for instance the employment levels, the Americans will always approach each other and communicate informally. They introduce themselves with nicknames or their first names only while they also communicate in positions that they themselves perceive comfortable without caring what the other will think.
Another common culture among the Americans is that they spend little time concerning with the past or history. To them, the most valuable aspect is the future, change and possible progress. They believe that they can control what may happen in the future. They believe that with each individual being responsible, they can make change evident as they are welcoming to new things. They believe that it is the role of the humans to impact changes on their social and political lives. To them those that take refuge in their comfort zones not desiring progressive are unattractive or lazy.
Americans believe in hard work that delivers achievement and it can be measured by material possession. It is the actions that one incorporates that determine whether one is a hard worker or a lazy one. They have an admiration for achievers and that is why they are always planning on their next course of actions as they target to be successful under their own definitions of success.
When Americans deal with people, they prefer and in most cases are direct in terms of being open and frank. They avoid beating around the bush. They are assertive in that, if they are to have arguments, they approach it through multiple discussions and employ facts to settle conflicts and disputes. They like doing it face to face and demonstrating courage and braveness in such situations.