Running head: CULTURE ESSAY

Culture Essay
Manalee Patel
University of Kentucky
CIS 110
July 21, 2015

CULTURE ESSAY

Culture Essay
Culture is defined as the way one was brought up to affect the way they presently think
and act. A persons culture affects the future of that him/her because their actions in the future
correlate with the way they were brought up. Usually, people from America make assumptions
about African immigrants. Most Americans assume that growing up in Africa features a very
hard life and that no one would want to live there. This is because of the cultural background of
Americans. Since they were brought up learning that Africa is not a good place to live, they
believe what they are told. Americans often assume that since someone was brought up in Africa
and moved to the United States of America, they moved here due to the low economic level in
Africa. The stereotypes build up as time goes by. That specific culture can greatly affect a person
in multiple different ways.
People from Africa grow up in a very family-oriented lifestyle. Africans consider family
to be a very important concept. The typical African family is not made up of the typical man, his
wife and children. Each African is part of a larger community. The bond of a family is to cherish
and help each member. The family in Africa is considered to be the entire community which
usually includes extended family as well. In the United States of America, it is abnormal for the
immediate family to get together with their extended family every week. But, in Africa, each
family member looks forward to seeing the entire family together at least once a week. Africans
cherish the family and community they are blessed with each and every day. They show a lot of
care and affection for each member of the family and allow themselves to always make family
their first priority. When Africans immigrate to the United States of America, they often miss
that feeling the most. Since the United States of Americans do not have a similar family bond,

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Africans feel intimidated and home sick. Family for Africans is usually what craves them to want
to go back to where they originally came from.
In Africa, there are people walking about the streets wherever you go and being friendly
with each other in the community. Everyone knows everyone. However, in the United States of
America, people have a completely different culture. The culture in the United States of America
tends to be more independent and private. It is very rare to see people walking around, smiling
and being friendly to one another; especially, if they are strangers. Most Africans come here and
feel very lonely because they are forced to adapt to the private and secluded lifestyle. They have
to get used to not seeing so many people engaging in friendly conversations wherever they go.
Even if there are people who walk in a street, they tend to be in their own world rather than
interacting with people around them. It is very hard to find places in the United States of
America that have the same friendly environment as Africa.
The education system in the United States of America is much simpler than the education
system in Africa. Education in the United States of America can make any person successful if
they do well in school. In Africa, because of their academic system, it is complex to obtain
higher levels of education. The reason for the lack of prosperous schooling in Africa is due to the
absence of appropriate educational facilities. It also has to do with unequal opportunity for
education and the lack of teachers. Most Africans who become teachers either move to bigger
cities or out of the country. So the smaller towns are left with a minute number of teachers. This
results in overly sized classes for each teacher. Since each student does not get enough attention,
it results in low standardized scores. Due to these circumstances, Africans want to move to the
United States of America. It is the biggest reason for migrating to the United States of America.
Parents want their children to have the education they never could have in Africa, so they decide

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to move to the United States of America. The education system in the United States of America
spends more time for each individual student than any other country. Immigrants from Africa
tend to be very thankful of the opportunities they are able to have. They learn a lot here in the
United States of America than they ever would in Africa. Due to the help of counseling in school
and dedicated teachers, students from Africa are able to gain a lot more knowledge which will
prepare them for the future. This enables these kids to be able to go to college and be successful
enough to have a steady career.
Africa does not have a specific type of government for the entire continent. The societies
there have two levels of government. A particular level of government is made for local cities
and groups. The other level of government is independent and is national made for independent
nation-states. The two levels have caused multiple conflicts and disagreements. The government
in Africa always has final say. There are multiple things that need to be fixed but the government
does not attempt to fix them because of the lack of money and resources. African immigrants
enjoy the freedom they receive in the United States of America. In the United States of America,
the government has its rules and structure. There is a process to make a law and the citizens of
the country are the most important people. In the United States of America, citizens are able to
go against the government. If a group of people disagree with what the government says, all they
need is a petition and they begin to protest. That would be impossible to do in Africa because of
the lack of organization they have.
Living in Africa, people are very limited to what they are able eat and what type food
they have access to. The food they have access to mostly consists of solely the type of food that
their particular country has. Although they have McDonalds, theres not nearly as many in
Africa as there are in the United States of America. When Africans move to the United States of

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America they have access to a lot of food. Everywhere they go there will be a different type of
food there. It doesnt just consist of food from the United States of America but from all over the
world. For instances there is food in the United States of America from China, India, Greece,
Italy and many more countries. Along with the diverse types of restaurants, there are plenty of
grocery stores that allow people to access all types of food for a cheap price. The ability to obtain
food easily is far greater in the United States of America than in Africa.
The religion in Africa consists of mainly Christianity and Islam. There are multiple
religions in the United States of America because of the amount of immigrants. The Christians
from Africa come here and add variety to the United States of America. Most African immigrants
are proud to be the religion they are. A certain type of religion, Christian Orthodox, is very
unique in the United States of America. There are multiple people from Africa who are Christian
orthodox. There is also a low population of Islamic individuals the United States of America.
Africans with unique religions are very proud to be a part of the melting pot country. African
immigrants also tend to enjoy the variety of religions in the United States of America because it
allows them to discover more religions. Those discoveries can also lead to the belief of a new
religion. They are very accepting of other religions and allow themselves to be open to learning
about other religions.
The climate in the United States of America changes throughout the year. The seasons are
the typical winter, spring, summer, and fall. The weather in Africa is usually constant throughout
the entire year. It is very hot and the air is very muggy. The average temperature in Africa is
approximately 93 degrees Fahrenheit. For immigrants, it is very hard to transition from the
constantly dry weather in Africa to the changing weather in the United States of America. At
first, most immigrants will get a cold and become sick. As time passes, they tend to adapt to the

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weather change, but it takes a lot to get used to it because it is not the environment they were
brought up in. Some immigrants would rather have the sun beaming down on them the way it
does in Africa, while there are some African immigrants that would rather have the weather the
way it is in the United States of America.
Since the weather in Africa is so dry, the environment consists of many wild animals.
There are many wild animals living not too far from a village in Africa. Africans are very open to
animals because the environment they grew up in is made up of a variety of animals. Growing up
in Africa, immigrants usually tend to be surprised by the shortage of animals everywhere. In the
United States of America, it is very rare to find animals roaming around without any people
around. Compared to animals in Africa, animals in the United States of America are extremely
tamed. Wild animals in the United States of America are usually put into zoos.
Another environment difference is the air pollution in the two countries. Africas
pollution has been crucial for multiple years. There is a lot of litter and the country is not taken
care of. There is not a lot of protest against pollution so nobody usually does anything about the
polluted air. Plus, even if they wanted to protest it, they would not be able to. In the United States
of America, the air is much cleaner than the air in Africa. The African immigrants usually like
that it is not as polluted because the air is fresh. They know that there is a higher chance of them
being healthy here than they would be in Africa.

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