During Service 2

I have encountered, at Rock Island High School, that most of the kids from Africa or Asia seem to have integrated their own culture with American culture. When I say that the majority of them have integrated, I mean that they have kept their own culture but also adopted some of the aspects of the new culture. To be specific, a lot of them still speak the language that they spoke at home with each other but wear the clothes we wear and listen to music we listen to. I have also seen it another way when the kids wear the clothes that they would wear in their country and listen to music from their country but adopt English as a language. Not only that, but they also have iPhones and other smartphones. This is not a behavior they have changed after coming to america, but it is a material item that they would not normally have in the area whee they are from. The fact that they have and constantly use their phones just like Americans would, results in another aspect that they have integrated into our culture. These kids integrating like this is because they are young and it is easy for them to adopt aspects of a new culture. Their parents, on the other hand, would not have as easy a time integrating because they have had a history of behaving a certain way or owning certain things from their culture back home. The younger ones also have more opportunity and resources to integrate because they are around kids from America all day when they are at school. All they have to do is see what their American peers wear or how they behave and try to copy that the best way they can. The parents or adults do not have the same opportunity because they may be stuck at home all day or they only focus on their job and do not have the time to integrate. The kids may also be more open to the idea of adopting some characteristics of a new culture, while the adults may have a more conservative approach to culture and do not even open themselves up for new cultures. I can apply this to the future by noticing how much someone is integrated and base what I talk about or how I act. If a kid is integrated, then I will be able to talk to them about phones or sports depending how integrated they actually are. If someone is not integrated really at all then I will try to talk to them about their culture and introduce them to our culture in an effort to enlighten them about American culture.