WHY WE LEARN CULTURE

I believe that culture determines what is right or wrong. Conflicts of culture can occur when the beliefs and habits of one cultural group come to dominate the norms of the other groups, making it difficult for members of other groups to be included, understood, and to attain success. We are living in one of the most diverse country in the world, the United States of America. Globalization, immigration, and demographic diversity now present many challenges in the realm of communication and understanding across cultures in the United States. I propose that one role in the field of psychology is to promote an understanding of multicultural by looking cross cultural settings and to serve in an educative role.

Historically, we are aware that our founding fathers of the United States defined America by its core values. They claimed equality, human rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as America's core values. This definition of America was targeted as an asset to comfort people from various cultural heritages and give them the ability to value one's own cultural commitments and to be comfortable with those who do not share those convictions and practices. This ease with cultural difference is a mark of the profound maturity that allows one to be fully committed to a way of life without prejudice against another group.                

Through the multicultural education, we need to ignore and find a way to discard the myth that White Americans enjoy more power and higher status than other ethnic groups,  hence are the ones who owning the nation, whereas ethnic minorities sit at the margin of American society. Let us fight more for American culture which places strong emphasis on choice. Let us fight more of an American culture where people value their freedom to choose and care about what they choose. The 2008 American presidential election has shown the way- that there is nothing impossible in America.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Once predicted, “ I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."  Let us fight more for this picture of America
Emmanuel A Turuka