Multi-Lingual Cou
ntry
“Americans are scrambling to learn a language that is now spoken by many of the 35.3 million Hispanics in the United States.” Deborah Sharp says in a USA Today article (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-05-09-spanish-usat.htm written in 2001. 9 years later, there is even more Hispanics living in the world and Americans must communicate with them by learning their language, Spanish. The Salad Bowl Theory, which is the theory a person can be an American with American culture and keep respect and celebrate their ethnic culture, is definitely in effect today. Many schools in the country teach you different languages, like, Spanish and French so we can communicate others. The Salad Bowl Theory is a good idea because compared to the Melting Pot, were the minority culture gives up their culture you can keep your culture. The Hispanics that still speak Spanish, today, are impacting Americans by making us learn Spanish. In 2050, the Salad Bowl Theory will make our Country a better place.
As a Salad Bowl, our culture is different and unique compared to any other country due to our vast variety of people. We should continue to be a Salad Bowl because we learn about other people’s culture and backgrounds. An example of that is a present day classroom. At St. Luke’s we are required to learn another language, and in your senior year, you can take a course to learn about other cultures. Also, when I was in 5th grade, St. Luke’s had an International Night to celebrate and recognize all the different cultures there are. It was really fun to learn about other people backgrounds and ethnicity. If we were a Melting Pot, we would probably not do any of those things and only recognize American Culture. Our country should be a multi-lingual country. Thanks to The Salad Bowl Theory, Our culture is unique and different.
If we let Muslims into our country without being afraid of them, since many people categorize them with terrorist, we will be able to understand them better. We will also learn to get over those fears when you see people with turbans in airports and not think of them as terrorist if we understand Muslims. Another way to respect Muslims in letting them build the mosque in New York, we will know more about Muslims and let them know that us, Americans respect them and their religious practice. Letting Muslims into our country will let us understand them better.
The Salad Bowl theory is a good theory because it makes our “American Culture” different because we will have different cultures in our country. As we look into the future, I believe the Salad Bowl will still be in effect.
