When I sat down to try and encapsulate American culture, one phrase immediately came to mind. I believe the ethos “The American Dream” provides an admirable summary of American values. The American Dream is a phrase that stresses each American’s individual freedom and uniqueness. It deems anyone capable of achieving their dreams and aspirations with simple grit and passion. It has inspired many Americans to make this ethos ring true for centuries, even ringing across borders to millions of immigrants to come to the states to chase the American Dream. Valuing freedom has led to a more individualistic society, with individuals putting their autonomy first and deeming themselves self-sufficient. The race to achieve The American Dream moves rapidly, and there is a sense of competition in successfully capturing the elusive dream. This leads to an emphasis on valuing time, with American sayings like “Time is money”. Americans value direct schedules and stress productivity and judge work quality based on quality over work divided by time. The swift pace of the American lifestyle leads to more directness and future-oriented goals.
Personally, I’ve seen the American Dream first hand. Both my parents immigrated here from Morocco before I was born, for better pay, and better education opportunities. But while the American dream has its merits, and has provided some wonderful opportunities, I don’t believe it is as glistening as portrayed. Firstly, I don’t believe social mobility is as simple as it seems. Hard Work and Grit are not fix-all solutions. I believe America has a lot of systematic racism/sexism that makes it tougher for POC to achieve. I think individualistic culture marginalizes people at times, making success a competition, and leads to more racism and social clashes when trying to repair systematic stratification based on race. Secondly, I dislike the value of time in America. As a cross-culture kid, I’ve been able to directly compare two very different approaches to time. My mom comes from a Mediterranean culture where timelessness is more of a suggestion, and the quality of time spent and undivided attention is more valuable. I enjoy this much better. I think Americans think of life too rigidly, and not everything can or should be measured in productivity. Narrowing in on strictness and scheduling mitigates the ability to make time for yourself.
I don’t think this perspective is unique to just me. Again, being raised here but having a lot of my extended family abroad, I get to see different values firsthand. When my Moroccan cousins came to visit me when I was like 12, I took them to soccer practice with me. I remember how confused they were when we were a few minutes late and my coach told us to run a lap around the field. They looked at me in awe and were confused because they were guests who chose to come, and my team hadn’t even started drills yet. They were more interested in talking to my friends and creating connections first, it hadn’t even occurred to them that time was to be wasted. I remember this vividly, and I believe it was one of the first confrontations I had with the different values of time.
I think this exercise prepares me for abroad because it forces me to analyze something that has become quite familiar to me. As days become monotonous, it is sometimes hard to take a step back and describe your own culture, because you have become so accustomed to it, and can’t imagine living a different way. I think I am blessed to constantly be able to challenge that by having a part of my heart in a different country and having a dual perspective will hopefully allow me to be more introspective abroad.