Seminar

Understanding the Concept of Assimilation:

"The European immigrants who emerged from the Ford Motor Company melting pot came to the United States because they hoped to assimilate into mainstream American society. The Hmong came to the United States for the same reason they left China in the nineteenth century: because they were trying to resist assimilation. As the anthropologist Jacques Lemoine has observed, "they did come to our countries only to save their lives, they rather came to save their selves, that is their Hmong ethnicity." "...the Hmong are what sociologists call "involuntary migrants". It is well known that involuntary migrants, no matter what pot they are thrown into, tend not to melt" ("The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down", p. 183).

In our book, we see that the doctors and other professionals related to Lia's care assume that cultural assimilation is what is required of the Lee family for their daughter's care.

What are your thoughts about assimilation of immigrants into the U.S.Culture? If you support it, what is the U.S.Culture you are referring to? If you don't support assimilation, include in your response a different immigration strategy for our diverse nation.

Before preparing your response, please read Tom Gjelton's article, "Should Immigration Require Assimilation?" (Atlantic, 2015):

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/should-immigration-require-assimilation/406759/