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How did the old assimilationist model work? Brutally and effectively. In our grammar schools during the 1950s and 1960s, no Spanish was to be spoken on the playground—officially at least. Groups of four and larger were not allowed to congregate at recess. When we were caught fighting, nontraditional kicking instead of the accepted punching earned four, rather than two, spankings. A rather tough Americanism in class was rammed down our throats—biographies of Teddy Roosevelt, stories about Lou Gehrig, a repertory of a dozen or so patriotic songs, recitations from Longfellow, and demonstrations of how to fold the flag. “Manners” and “civics” were taught each week, with weird lessons about not appearing “loud” in public or wearing glittery or showy clothes, and especially not staring down strangers or giving people the “hard look” with the intent of “being unpleasant.” Our teachers were at times insufferable in their condescension as they disclosed the formula for “making it in America”—but make it in America the vast majority of these immigrants did.
Guess what? Cruel as it may have been; such 'sink or swim' assimilation overall was/is better than this 'multi-cultural' BS of today.
And; I can attest to that, many of you know that I, to am first generation US born American-------and, my childhood in many regards flat sucked due in part to the (weak) cultural pull of being part Hungarian heritage.
Oh well; sucked to be me.
In all fairness though; my biggest 'bugbear' was having to deal with a paranoid schizophrenic bio 'mother'-------which had little or nothing to do with being of recent foreign stock.
And now they have spread way beyond their stronghold of California. What shall we call it now? Mexiamerica?
I'm glad you mentioned that - having been born and raised in So Cal, attending school with many Mexican kids (among others of course) and living in multi-racial neighborhoods, I was under the impression that this was "normal" as I was growing up. We really were a "melting pot", and despite our different languages and customs, we as kids in school got along pretty well.
That's why I scratch my head when people in other parts of the country make comments about how the influx of different people in their community affects them, as if this were some strange new species of bird that had hitherto been unknown. We lived this, so I guess what I'm trying to say is that in LA we are far more tolerant of these differences. We've been quite the "live and let live" zone of the US for as long as I can remember.
Recently, however, the balance has tipped, and it seems like there are more "differences" we have to deal with than before, which is starting to draw the lines in our communities. Drugs, gangs, graffiti, trash strewn everywhere, the in-your-face attitude, the death stares - these weren't among the "differences" we Californians had originally bargained for. The city of Maywood, for those who haven't heard of it, is an example of what I mean when I say that this isn't what we bargained for.
Here is a link to an article describing Maywood for anyone who wants to know what I'm talking about:
if it became mexifornia, we'd have to change the names of cities like sacramento, san francisco, san diego, los angeles, etc. to spanish names! oh, wait...
Illegals are not welcome here and will no no longer gets work here.
But we'll name our American cities whatever we want and shove it in there face as a reminder they are not citizens.
Hanson has been a voice in this situation for some time. Lots of wisdom in what he says. His analysis of the assimilation--(or lack of it)....is very close to what I've mentioned in many posts...I've called it almost a "hazing" process, whereby immigrants arriving in America were PUSHED into assimilating, under strong social pressures. Assimlation involved effort, and those who succeeded could feel rightfully proud of their accomplishment.
I still maintain that this is the only way ANYBODY can be expected to assimilate into ANYTHING. Whether it's a new apprentice learning a trade, a new cadet at West Point, a new Doctor spending time as an intern, or a new arrival into America, the fact is that the ONLY way to participate fully in the "new" life is to learn about it, adapt and assimilate....and the only way to do that efficiently, is to see it as the only practical option, if one plans to stay here.
When assimilation becomes merely an elective, optional goal---(OK if you want to, but equally OK if you don't)--then nobody's going to make the effort. Some people see this as an exciting, colorful, multiculturalism.....I see it as a dangerously fragmented, dis-united society, and one that won't hold together under stress. And that's the way we're headed at the moment.
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