If an ordinary American is suddenly asked, “What are the American values in you and your culture?,” They will be somewhat confused or not fully expressed.
Because most Americans believe that each individual is a separate subject, having different values, beliefs and behaviors. On the other hand, they live naturally with these values so they may not pay attention to the systematic and complete answer.
But no matter how different the individual is, Americans have some fairly common values that they have absorbed and lived in their culture, consciously or unconsciously.
In celebration of the Independence Day of the US, let try to see what those core values are. And are they related or different from the Vietnamese community in the US?
The first value to be counted is the personal freedom that Americans promote and respect. Protected by the constitution, Americans tend to think, speak and act on their own choosing. They have very different lifestyles, from fashion, tastes to daily habits and behaviors, so they are ready to protect and protest once they believe that these personal freedoms have been violated. That is why freedoms of greater stature, such as freedom of speech and press, are so important in American culture.
Vietnamese people, on the other hand, tend to view obedience and compromise as important. Assertive instead of children, view their obedience as a model of the family. So in society, they lack respect for the freedom of others. A dress that is hard to see from any model also creates a loud public debate. Or the fact that a large number of people attacked a few people in the past time just because these people mentioned data or peaceful and different personal opinions, are some examples of this.
The second value is independence and self-reliance. This is the value that comes from the free value. Americans value their independence and pride in their self-reliance, which makes them free and independent. They expect others to be independent and self-reliant, starting with the family itself. Americans are a society where it is quite common for children to grow up in adulthood.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese people lack the habit of encouraging and training their children to be independent. Many people are dependent, abusing their social security and welfare systems if they qualify on paper rather than the real situation. Bigger, they expect and expect foreign people to deal with ethnic issues that need self-reliance and resilience.
Another very important value in American culture is equality, which is affirmed in the US Declaration of Independence: “all men are created equal.” This equality does not automatically exist according to the proclamation but has experienced many struggles with blood and tears of the American people for a long time to achieve the things that immigrants inherited automatically upon arrival. Equal rights to advance, to achieve success. Equal rights in laws, employers, schools, gender …
This is one of the most cherished values in the US and is much different from Asian culture. Because many people of Vietnamese descent still place heavy emphasis on social status, success or wealth, appearance … of others. The Vietnamese community in general has signs of belittling other communities, so it is very common to insult and insult the black and Latin American communities.
Another important value in American culture that can be noted is creativity, competition, and promoting business freedom. These are the characteristics and values that have created the success of the American youth in the development of multinational corporations. Always creative to explore, not to follow the traditional pattern, many technical breakthroughs devoted to humanity today are created by young Americans. Vietnamese people seem to lack the spirit of exploration, prefer safe space, and are easy to satisfy with limited success.
Americans are direct, straight but open and honest. The relationship between employer, spouse, parent, and children and social relationships is often based on these values. Because they benefit the parties and aim for a positive final goal. Vietnamese people, in the opposite direction or around, often avoid problems in communication or work if they are detrimental to themselves.
Americans see punctuality as important. Any important events or daily events happen on time and quickly, exactly according to the schedule. This is a characteristic of a highly developed society because it demonstrates productivity, work efficiency and science and discipline. Does this have a lot of difference with the always rushing, rushing, hustling and cutting goods that often take place in the beauty of the labels but are often late and cumbersome in all activities of the Vietnamese community?
And last but not least, Americans always look to the future with optimism. America is not without its challenges, but the development of the nation has made the American people believe that the future will be better. Self-reliance and trust in the individual to look forward to the future rather than in fate and destiny. That’s what helps them always prepare, plan for the future, short or long term.
Vietnamese people often talk about the past and often use the past to judge the present and the future. Worrying but arbitrary, there are no short-term or long-term plans, both in personal life, work issues to projects, national-level strategies.
It may not be comprehensive, but the above-mentioned beliefs, values, thoughts and behaviors have created an American culture today. Listing and comparing is not intended to honor or downplay the value of any culture. Because the cultural category of a people is not clearly right and wrong because they have positive and negative aspects, appropriate or inappropriate for other cultures.
However, when interacting or already living in a culture and society with such values, one needs to know and understand in order to behave appropriately. To see social issues and the people around them with respect and fairness, fairer, not biased or radical, extreme.
Confused with some personal success and community strength, if not frankly acknowledging, learning, and changing according to the values in the above American culture, the Vietnamese-American community in the US is not only out of place but also will be difficult to keep up with the communities in which you live.
Vietnamese source: https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-53288864
