当代美国社会与文化论文1

《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

Chinese parents, a great grade is the only way to get successful.

Another principle which Americans obey is time keeping. Actually, not only Americans, every developed country people know it. When attending a lecture or a meeting, people who arrive on time are seen as polite and educational. When doing a hard work, finishing before the deadline is necessary. When promising someone to do something, it’s important to do the right thing in the right place. Meanwhile, Americans pay more attention to time loss. For them, any wasted time is not allowed. So, no matter in TV or movies, or just in newspaper, we can see Americans doing their jobs in high efficiency. Business people usually say,” Just give me one more second.” I regard it as a conduct of time keeping.

Like the words above, Chinese also like doing things in time. As the saying goes,” Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” This is the Chinese way of keeping time.

Last but not least, we would like to say something about innovation. A famous businessman once said,” Innovation is the key to improvement and development.” I’m in favor of it firmly. In America, you can find out innovation in many things. Standing in a house, you can discover the innovative points in the structure. Walking on the street, you can learn about the innovative roadway design. Using the tableware, you can be delight with its innovation. All these examples tell us one thing:

Innovation can be found everywhere in America.

Apart from this, innovation makes America the strongest country all over the world. Americans often invent new items. They even get Nobel Prize afterwards. Simply said, Americans agree that “impossible is nothing”. Once a person puts all his efforts in doing something, he will try his best to do it well. And during the process, he will not follow footsteps of other people but finishes it in his own way. As a result, innovation was born.

Americans do very well in innovating, while Chinese don’t. Usually, people follow the way of people in past generations. When answering a question, the response must be fixed. Education in China just makes youngsters do things in a fixed way rather than a flexible one. Maybe that’s the reason why we Chinese fall behind Americans in some specific way.

These are all I want to say about American values. I wrote this essay not to admire Americans but to find disadvantages of us. Overall, I just hope our country can be much stronger, and people’s life can be much better.