Week Five Readings

            The most interesting article assigned for this week was “Cultural Assimilation and Its Delusions.” I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the emphasis put on Christianity as the religion that was any immigrants’ ticket into American culture. It shocked me that even modern-day Harvard scholars were encouraging immigrants to eschew their own religion and replace it with the “religion of America” – Protestantism. This really disgusts me, for are we not supposed to enjoy freedom of religion? This idea of America being a Christian country founded on Christian ideals is not a new one, and it is commonly expounded by certain politicians more frequently than my stomach can handle, but to try to force it on immigrants as if their entire belief system and way of conceiving of the world is inferior is even more reprehensible.

            “Problemetizing Cultural Stereotypes” was also interesting, particularly when it pointed out the fact that even American students exhibit some of these common Asian stereotypes in the classroom. This is so obvious that I can’t believe it has to be stated. Yet, I must admit that I was surprised to read that the author experienced unruly students in India, as I too had fallen under the general assumption that Indian children were earnest learners. To be fair to myself, this impression came from the real-life knowledge that all of the Indian students I had as a tutor at Sylvan were not there to catch up to their peers, but to get even farther ahead of their peers than they already were!