American Values Sequence
Junior PLC
Granite Hills High School
Table of Contents
“Black Men and Public Space”
by Brent Staples
2
“The Handicap of Definition”
by William Raspberry
4
“Crippled by their Culture”
by Thomas Sowell
6
“Society is Dead, Welcome to the iWorld” by Andrew Sullivan
9
“Guest Workers and the U.S. Heritage
by Jay Bookman
11
“The Values Americans Live By”
by L. Robert Kohls
13
Sequence Essay Prompt
21
Instructions for a Précis
22
1
Staples, Brent. "Black Men and Public Space." Harper's 12/86.*
1. My first victim was a woman--white, well-dressed, probably in her late twenties. I came upon her late one evening on
a deserted street in Hyde Park, a relatively affluent neighborhood in an otherwise mean, impoverished section of
Chicago. As I swung onto the avenue behind her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflammatory distance between us.
Not so. She cast back a worried glance. To her, the youngish black man--a broad six feet two inches with a beard and
billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket--seemed menacingly close. After a few
more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. Within seconds, she disappeared into a
cross street.
2. That was more than a decade ago. I was twenty-two years old, a graduate student newly arrived at the University of
Chicago. It was in the echo of that terrified woman's footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I'd
come into--the ability to alter public space in ugly ways. It was clear that she thought herself the quarry of a mugger, a
rapist, or worse. Suffering a bout of insomnia, however, I was stalking sleep, not defenseless wayfarers. As a softy who
is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken--let alone hold one to a person's throat--I was surprised, embarrassed,
and dismayed all at once. Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny. It also made it clear that I was
indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto. That first
encounter, and those that followed, signified that a vast, unnerving gulf lay between nighttime pedestrians--particularly
women--and me. And I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a
corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move
after being pulled over by a policeman. Where fear and weapons meet--and they often do in urban America--there is
always the possibility of death.
3. In that first year, my first away from my hometown, I was to become thoroughly familiar with the language of fear.
At dark, shadowy intersections, I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk,
thunk of the driver--black, white, male, or female--hammering down the door locks. On less traveled streets after dark, I
grew accustomed to but never comfortable with people crossing to the other side of the street rather than pass me. Then
there were the standard unpleasantries with policemen, doormen, bouncers, cabdrivers, and others whose business it is
to screen out troublesome individuals before there is any nastiness.
4. I moved to New York nearly two years ago and I have remained an avid nightwalker. In central Manhattan, the nearconstant crowd cover minimizes tense one-on-one street encounters. Elsewhere--in Soho, for example, where sidewalks
are narrow and tightly spaced buildings shut out the sky--things can get very taut indeed.
5. After dark, on the warrenlike streets of Brooklyn where I live, I often see women who fear the worst from me. They
seem to have set their faces on neutral, and with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge
ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled. I understand, of course, that the danger they perceive is not a
hallucination. Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically
overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence. Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that
comes of being ever the suspect, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact.
6. It is not altogether clear to me how I reached the ripe old age of twenty-two without being conscious of the lethality
nighttime pedestrians attributed to me. Perhaps it was because in Chester, Pennsylvania, the small, angry industrial town
where I came of age in the 1960s, I was scarcely noticeable against a backdrop of gang warfare, street knifings, and
murders. I grew up one of the good boys, had perhaps a half-dozen fist-fights. In retrospect, my shyness of combat has
clear sources.
7. As a boy, I saw countless tough guys locked away; I have since buried several, too. They were babies, really--a
teenage cousin, a brother of twenty-two, a childhood friend in his mid-twenties--all gone down in episodes of bravado
played out in the streets. I came to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on. I chose, perhaps unconsciously, to remain
a shadow--timid, but a survivor.
8. The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public places often has a perilous flavor. The most frightening one
of these confusions occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I worked as a journalist in Chicago. One day,
2
rushing into the office of a magazine I was writing for with a deadline story in hand, I was mistaken for a burglar. The
office manager called security and, with an ad hoc posse, pursued me through the labyrinthine halls, nearly to my
editor's door. I had no way of proving who I was. I could only move briskly toward the company of someone who knew
me.
9. Another time I was on assignment for a local newspaper and killing time before an interview. I entered a jewelry
store on the city's affluent Near North Side. The proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red
Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash. She stood, the dog extended toward me, silent to my questions, her
eyes bulging nearly out of her head. I took a cursory look around, nodded, and bade her good night.
10. Relatively speaking, however, I never fared as badly as another black male journalist. He went to nearby Waukegan,
Illinois a couple of summers ago to work on a story about a murderer who was born there. Mistaking the reporter for the
killer, police officers hauled him from his car at gunpoint and but for his press credentials would probably have tried to
book him. Black men trade tales like this all the time.
11. Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely
have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care, particularly late in
the evening. I give a wide berth to nervous people on subway platforms during the wee hours, particularly when I have
exchanged business clothes for jeans. If I happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, I
may walk by, letting them clear the lobby before I return, so as not to seem to be following them. I have been calm and
extremely congenial on those rare occasions when I've been pulled over by the police.
12. And on late evening constitutionals I employ what has proved to be an excellent tension-reducing measure: I whistle
melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers. Even steely New Yorkers hunching
toward nighttime destinations seem to relax, and occasionally they even join in the tune. Virtually everybody seems to
sense that a mugger wouldn't be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It is my equivalent to
the cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.
*This version is revised from the original to accommodate later anthologies.
VOCABULARY WORDS: affluent, errant, avid, solace, cursory.
3
The Handicap of Definition
William Raspberry
Washington Post: 6 January 1982
I know all about bad schools, mean politicians, economic deprivation and racism. Still, it occurs to me that
one of the heaviest burdens black Americans—and black children in particular—have to bear is the handicap
of definition: the question of what it means to be black.
Let me explain quickly what I mean. If a basketball fan says that the Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird (3-time NBA
MVP and 12-time NBA all star) plays “black,” the fan intends it—and Bird probably accepts it—as a
compliment. Tell pop singer Tom Jones (still a fixture in Las Vegas) he moves “black” and he might grin in
appreciation. Say to a Teena Marie (for over two decades she recorded to Motown) or the Average White
Band that they sound “black” and they’ll thank you.
But name one pursuit, aside from athletics, entertainment, or sexual performance in which a white
practitioner will feel complimented to be told he does it “black.” Tell a white broadcaster he talks black and
he’ll sign up for diction lessons. Tell a white reporter that he writes “black” and he’ll take a writing course.
Tell a white lawyer that he reasons “black” and he might sue you for slander.
What we have here is a tragically limited definition of blackness, and it isn’t only white people who buy it.
Think of all the ways black children can put one another down with charges of “whiteness.” For many of
these children, hard study and hard work are “white.” Trying to please a teacher might be criticized as acting
“white.” Speaking correct English is “white.” Scrimping today in the interest of tomorrow’s goal is “white.”
Educational toys and games are “white.”
An incredible array of habits and attitudes that are conducive to success in business, in academia, in the
nonentertainment professions are likely thought of as somehow “white.” Even economic success, unless it
involves such “black” undertakings as numbers banking, is defined as “white.”
And the results are devastating. I wouldn’t deny that blacks often are better entertainers and athletes. My
point is the harm that comes from too narrow a definition of what is black.
One reason black youngsters tend to do better at basketball, for instance is that they assume they can learn
to do it well, and so they practice constantly to prove themselves right.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could infect black children with the notion that excellence in math is “black”
rather than white, or possibly Chinese? Wouldn’t it be of enormous value if we could create the myth that
morality, strong families, determination, courage and love of learning are traits brought by slaves from
Mother Africa and therefore quintessentially black?
There is no doubt in my mind that most black youngsters could develop their mathematical reasoning, their
elocution and their attitudes the way they develop their jump shots and their dance steps: by the combination
of sustained, enthusiastic practice and the unquestioned belief that they can do it.
In one sense, what I am talking about is the importance of developing positive ethnic traditions. Maybe Jews
have an innate talent for communication; maybe the Chinese are born with a gift from mathematical
reasoning, maybe blacks are naturally blessed with athletic grace, I doubt it. What is at work, I suspect, is
assumption, inculcated early in their lives, that this is a thing our people do well.
Unfortunately, many of the things about which blacks make this assumption are things that do not contribute
to their career success—except for that handful of the truly gifted who can make it as entertainers and
athletes. And many of the things we concede to whites are things that are essential to economic security.
So it is with a number of assumptions black youngsters make about what it is to be a “man”: physical
aggressiveness, sexual prowess, the refusal to submit to authority. The prisons are full of people who, by
this perverted definition, are unmistakably men.
4
But the real problem is not so much that the things defined as “black” are negative. The problem is that the
definition is much too narrow.
Somehow, we have to make our children understand that they are intelligent, competent people, capable of
doing whatever they put their minds to and making it in the American mainstream, not just in a black
subculture.
What we seem to be doing instead, is raising up yet another generation of young blacks who will be
failures—by definition.
5
Crippled by Their Culture
Race doesn't hold back America's "black rednecks." Nor does racism.
BY THOMAS SOWELL
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
For most of the history of this country, differences between the black and the white population-whether in income, IQ, crime rates, or whatever--have been attributed to either race or racism. For
much of the first half of the 20th century, these differences were attributed to race--that is, to an
assumption that blacks just did not have it in their genes to do as well as white people. The tide
began to turn in the second half of the 20th century, when the assumption developed that blackwhite differences were due to racism on the part of whites.
Three decades of my own research lead me to believe that neither of those explanations will stand
up under scrutiny of the facts. As one small example, a study published last year indicated that most
of the black alumni of Harvard were from either the West Indies or Africa, or were the children of
West Indian or African immigrants. These people are the same race as American blacks, who
greatly outnumber either or both.
If this disparity is not due to race, it is equally hard to explain by racism. To a racist, one black is
pretty much the same as another. But, even if a racist somehow let his racism stop at the water's
edge, how could he tell which student was the son or daughter of someone born in the West Indies
or in Africa, especially since their American-born offspring probably do not even have a foreign
accent?
What then could explain such large disparities in demographic "representation" among these three
groups of blacks? Perhaps they have different patterns of behavior and different cultures and values
behind their behavior.
There have always been large disparities, even within the native black population of the U.S. Those
blacks whose ancestors were "free persons of color" in 1850 have fared far better in income,
occupation, and family stability than those blacks whose ancestors were freed in the next decade by
Abraham Lincoln.
What is not nearly as widely known is that there were also very large disparities within the white
population of the pre-Civil War South and the white population of the Northern states. Although
Southern whites were only about one-third of the white population of the U.S., an absolute majority
of all the illiterate whites in the country were in the South.
The North had four times as many schools as the South, attended by more than four times as many
students. Children in Massachusetts spent more than twice as many years in school as children in
Virginia. Such disparities obviously produce other disparities. Northern newspapers had more than
four times the circulation of Southern newspapers. Only 8% of the patents issued in 1851 went to
Southerners. Even though agriculture was the principal economic activity of the antebellum South
at the time, the vast majority of the patents for agricultural inventions went to Northerners. Even the
cotton gin was invented by a Northerner.
Disparities between Southern whites and Northern whites extended across the board from rates of
6
violence to rates of illegitimacy. American writers from both the antebellum South and the North
commented on the great differences between the white people in the two regions. So did famed
French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville.
None of these disparities can be attributed to either race or racism. Many contemporary observers
attributed these differences to the existence of slavery in the South, as many in later times would
likewise attribute both the difference between Northern and Southern whites, and between blacks
and whites nationwide, to slavery. But slavery doesn't stand up under scrutiny of historical facts any
better than race or racism as explanations of North-South differences or black-white differences.
The people who settled in the South came from different regions of Britain than the people who
settled in the North--and they differed as radically on the other side of the Atlantic as they did here-that is, before they had ever seen a black slave.
Slavery also cannot explain the difference between American blacks and West Indian blacks living
in the United States because the ancestors of both were enslaved. When race, racism, and slavery all
fail the empirical test, what is left?
Culture is left.
The culture of the people who were called "rednecks" and "crackers" before they ever got on the
boats to cross the Atlantic was a culture that produced far lower levels of intellectual and economic
achievement, as well as far higher levels of violence and sexual promiscuity. That culture had its
own way of talking, not only in the pronunciation of particular words but also in a loud, dramatic
style of oratory with vivid imagery, repetitive phrases and repetitive cadences.
Although that style originated on the other side of the Atlantic in centuries past, it became for
generations the style of both religious oratory and political oratory among Southern whites and
among Southern blacks--not only in the South but in the Northern ghettos in which Southern blacks
settled. It was a style used by Southern white politicians in the era of Jim Crow and later by black
civil rights leaders fighting Jim Crow. Martin Luther King's famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial
in 1963 was a classic example of that style.
While a third of the white population of the U.S. lived within the redneck culture, more than 90% of
the black population did. Although that culture eroded away over the generations, it did so at
different rates in different places and among different people. It eroded away much faster in Britain
than in the U.S. and somewhat faster among Southern whites than among Southern blacks, who had
fewer opportunities for education or for the rewards that came with escape from that
counterproductive culture.
Nevertheless the process took a long time. As late as the First World War, white soldiers from
Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi scored lower on mental tests than black soldiers from
Ohio, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Again, neither race nor racism can explain that--and
neither can slavery.
The redneck culture proved to be a major handicap for both whites and blacks who absorbed it.
Today, the last remnants of that culture can still be found in the worst of the black ghettos, whether
in the North or the South, for the ghettos of the North were settled by blacks from the South. The
counterproductive and self-destructive culture of black rednecks in today's ghettos is regarded by
7
many as the only "authentic" black culture--and, for that reason, something not to be tampered with.
Their talk, their attitudes, and their behavior are regarded as sacrosanct.
The people who take this view may think of themselves as friends of blacks. But they are the kinds
of friends who can do more harm than enemies.
Mr. Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, is author, most
recently, of "Black Rednecks and White Liberals," published this week by Encounter Books.
8
Society is dead, we have retreated into the iWorld
By Andrew Sullivan
I was visiting New York last week and noticed something I’d never thought I’d say about
the city. Yes, nightlife is pretty much dead (and I’m in no way the first to notice that). But daylife
— that insane mishmash of yells, chatter, clatter, hustle and chutzpah that makes New York the
urban equivalent of methamphetamine — was also a little different. It was quieter.
Manhattan’s downtown is now a Disney-like string of malls, riverside parks and pretty
upper-middle-class villages. But there was something else. And as I looked across the throngs on
the pavements, I began to see why.
There were little white wires hanging down from their ears, or tucked into pockets, purses or
jackets. The eyes were a little vacant. Each was in his or her own musical world, walking to their
soundtrack, stars in their own music video, almost oblivious to the world around them. These are
the iPod people.
Even without the white wires you can tell who they are. They walk down the street in their
own MP3 cocoon, bumping into others, deaf to small social cues, shutting out anyone not in their
bubble.
Every now and again some start unconsciously emitting strange tuneless squawks, like a
badly tuned radio, and their fingers snap or their arms twitch to some strange soundless rhythm.
When others say “Excuse me” there’s no response. “Hi”, ditto. It’s strange to be among so many
people and hear so little. Except that each one is hearing so much.
Yes, I might as well own up. I’m one of them. I witnessed the glazed New York looks
through my own glazed pupils, my white wires peeping out of my ears. I joined the cult a few years
ago: the sect of the little white box worshippers.
Every now and again I go to church — those huge, luminous Apple stores, pews in the rear,
the clerics in their monastic uniforms all bustling around or sitting behind the “Genius Bars”, like
priests waiting to hear confessions.
Others began, as I did, with a Walkman — and then a kind of clunkier MP3 player. But the
sleekness of the iPod won me over. Unlike other models it gave me my entire music collection to
rearrange as I saw fit — on the fly, in my pocket. What was once an occasional musical diversion
became a compulsive obsession. Now I have my iTunes in my iMac for my iPod in my iWorld. It’s
Narcissus heaven: we’ve finally put the “i” into Me.
And, like all addictive cults, it’s spreading. There are now 22m iPod owners in the United
States and Apple is becoming a mass-market company for the first time.
Walk through any airport in the United States these days and you will see person after
person gliding through the social ether as if on autopilot. Get on a subway and you’re surrounded by
a bunch of Stepford commuters staring into mid-space as if anaesthetised by technology. Don’t ask,
don’t tell, don’t overhear, don’t observe. Just tune in and tune out.
It wouldn’t be so worrying if it weren’t part of something even bigger. Americans are
beginning to narrow their lives.
You get your news from your favorite blogs, the ones that won’t challenge your view of the
world. You tune into a satellite radio service that also aims directly at a small market — for new age
fanatics, liberal talk or Christian rock. Television is all cable. Culture is all subculture. Your cell
phones can receive e-mail feeds of your favorite blogger’s latest thoughts — seconds after he has
posted them — get sports scores for your team or stock quotes of your portfolio.
9
Technology has given us a universe entirely for ourselves — where the serendipity of
meeting a new stranger, hearing a piece of music we would never choose for ourselves or an
opinion that might force us to change our mind about something are all effectively banished.
Atomisation by little white boxes and cell phones. Society without the social. Others who
are chosen — not met at random. Human beings have never lived like this before. Yes, we have
always had homes, retreats or places where we went to relax, unwind or shut out the world.
But we didn’t walk around the world like hermit crabs with our isolation surgically attached.
Music was once the preserve of the living room or the concert hall. It was sometimes
solitary but it was primarily a shared experience, something that brought people together, gave them
the comfort of knowing that others too understood the pleasure of a Brahms symphony or that
Beatles album.
But music is as atomised now as living is. And it’s secret. That bloke next to you on the bus
could be listening to heavy metal or a Gregorian chant. You’ll never know. And so, bit by bit, you’ll
never really know him. And by his white wires, he is indicating he doesn’t really want to know you.
What do we get from this? The awareness of more music, more often. The chance to slip
away for a while from everydayness, to give our lives its own soundtrack, to still the monotony of
the commute, to listen more closely and carefully to music that can lift you up and keep you going.
We become masters of our own interests, more connected to people like us over the internet,
more instantly in touch with anything we want, need or think we want and think we need. Ever tried
a Stairmaster in silence? But what are we missing? That hilarious shard of an overheard
conversation that stays with you all day; the child whose chatter on the pavement takes you back to
your early memories; birdsong; weather; accents; the laughter of others. And those thoughts that
come not by filling your head with selected diversion, but by allowing your mind to wander
aimlessly through the regular background noise of human and mechanical life.
External stimulation can crowd out the interior mind. Even the boredom that we flee has its
uses. We are forced to find our own means to overcome it. And so we enrich our life from within,
rather than from white wires. It’s hard to give up, though, isn’t it.
Not so long ago I was on a trip and realised I had left my iPod behind. Panic. But then
something else. I noticed the rhythms of others again, the sound of the airplane, the opinions of the
taxi driver, the small social cues that had been obscured before. I noticed how others related to each
other. And I felt just a little bit connected again and a little more aware.
Try it. There’s a world out there. And it has a soundtrack all its own.
10
Jay Bookman, "Guest Workers and the U.S. Heritage," The American-Statesman, (April 4, 2006), p. 10.
If the American people decide that 12 million illegal immigrants should be removed and sent back home,
fine, we can try and do that.
The process would be hard and expensive and brutally inhumane at times, and it could never be entirely
successful. But if we hardened our hearts and emptied our wallets, we could probably come somewhat close to
achieving that goal.
Of course, banishing those millions from our borders would also mean that we would do without the labor
they now provide in industries from construction to hotels and restaurants to agriculture to food processing. Some
Americans—generally the most rabid and extremist among us—are ready to make that deal anyway, and there are
politicians in Washington willing to pander to that crowd, at least in theory.
Others, however, are trying to find a way to retain the labor that illegal immigrants provide without offering
them the right to live here permanently, let alone the right to pursue citizenship. It’s an effort to solve a politically
tough problem by cutting the baby in half, placating anti-immigrant fervor without denying American business the
cheap, docile work force it relies upon.
That is in essence the proposal championed by President Bush, who advocates “legalizing” millions of
immigrants now here illegally, but only on a temporary basis. After working several years, the temporary “guest
workers” would be forced to return to their home countries to be replaced by new temporary workers.
That proposal has been condemned by extremists—most of them in Bush’s own party—as offering
“amnesty” to those who broke the law in coming here, as if punishment were more important than solving the
problem. The more serious problem with that approach is practical; it assumes that workers will return home once
their legal status has expired, and that’s unlikely to happen.
It’s also important to think about the guest work approach in moral terms, in terms of the values that we
claim to honor as Americans.
Under a guest worker policy, we will let the immigrants come here by the millions, but only temporarily.
We will let them mangle their hands in our poultry plants and salt our farmlands with the sweat off their brows and
break their backs at our construction sites and raise our children as nannies and clean our homes as maids, all at cutrate wages.
But we will not allow them to dream—for themselves or their children—of sharing in the future they help to
build here.
In other words, we are willing to let them serve us but not join us; they must by law be held apart and
beneath us. We will import them to serve as a perpetually rotating servant class, and we will do so even while
pretending to still honor that most American of principles, “that all men are created equal.”
That system of second-class citizenship—far from slavery, but far from the full range of human rights as
well—has precedent in American history. In colonial times, more than half of those who immigrated from Europe
came here not as free people but as indentured servants.
In return for the cost of passage to the New World, they agreed to be legally bound to an employer for a
number of years, unable to marry without permission and with no say over where they lived or how they worked.
They could even be sold to another boss.
But even back then, when the period of bonded indenture ended—usually after seven years—the servant was
freed and allowed to take his or her place as a full citizen.
In reality, there is nothing all that complicated about drafting a practical, humane policy on illegal
immigration. It would have three basic components:

Tighter border security, to cut off as much as possible the supply of illegal workers coming into this
country;

Much more effective enforcement against illegal employers, to reduce as much as possible the
demand for illegal workers;

A way to deal effectively and humanely with the illegal immigrants already here
Any proposed solution that does not include all three components is neither workable nor serious. But in a
consideration that is just as important, any proposal that condemns millions to a permanent menial class, even while
11
profiting from their labor, is beneath us as a country and a betrayal of all we are supposed to represent.
—Jay Bookman is an editorial writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
12
The Values Americans Live By
by L. Robert Kohls
xxx Most Americans would have a difficult time telling you, specifically, what the values are that Americans live by.
They have never given the matter much thought.
xxx Even if Americans had considered this question, they would probably, in the end, decide not to answer in terms
of a definitive list of values. The reason for this decision is itself one very American value—their belief that every
individual is so unique that the same list of values could never be applied to all, or even most, of their fellow citizens.
xxx Although Americans may think of themselves as being more varied and unpredictable than they actually are, it is
significant that they think they are. Americans tend to think they have been only slightly influenced by family,
church or schools. In the end, each believes, "I personally chose which values I want to live my own life by."
xxx Despite this self-evaluation, a foreign anthropologist could observe Americans and produce a list of common
values that would fit most Americans. The list of typically American values would stand in sharp contrast to the
values commonly held by the people of many other countries.
xxx We, the staff of the Washington International Center, have been introducing thousands of international visitors to
life in the United States for more than a third of a century. This has caused us to try to look at Americans through the
eyes of our visitors. We feel confident that the values listed here describe most (but not all) Americans.
xxx Furthermore, we can say that if the foreign visitor really understood how deeply ingrained these 13 values are in
Americans, he or she would then be able to understand 95% of American actions—action that might otherwise
appear strange or unbelievable when evaluated from the perspective of the foreigner’s own society and its values.
xxx The different behaviors of a people or a culture make sense only when seen through the basic beliefs,
assumptions and values of that particular group. When you encounter an action, or hear a statement in the United
States that surprises you, try to see it as an expression of one or more of the values listed here. For example, when
you ask Americans for directions to get to a particular address in their own city, they may explain, in great detail,
how you can get there on your own, but may never even consider walking two city blocks with you to lead you to the
place. Some foreign visitors have interpreted this sort of action as showing Americans’ "unfriendliness." We would
suggest, instead, that the self-help concept (value number 6 on our list), is so strong in Americans that they firmly
believe that no adult would ever want, even temporarily, to be dependent on another. Also, their future orientation
(value 8) makes Americans think it is better to prepare you to find other addresses on your own in the future.
xxx Before proceeding to the list itself, we should also point out that Americans see all of these values as very
positive ones. They are not aware, for example, that the people in many Third World countries view change (value 2)
as negative or threatening. In fact, all 13 of these American values are judged by many of the word’s citizens as
negative and undesirable. Therefore, it is not enough simply to familiarize yourself with these values. You must also,
so far as possible, consider them without the negative or derogatory connotation that they might have for you, based
on your own experience and cultural identity.
xxx It is important to state emphatically that our purpose in providing you with this list of the most important
American values is not to convert you, the foreign visitor, to our values. We couldn’t achieve that goal even if we
wanted to, and we don’t want to. We simply want to help you understand the Americans with whom you will be
relating—from their own value system rather that from yours.
L. Robert Kohls, Executive Director
The Washington International Center
Washington, D.C.
April 1984
1. PERSONAL CONTROL OVER THE ENVIRONMENT
xxx Americans no longer believe in the power of Fate, and they have come to look at people who do as
being backward, primitive, or hopelessly naïve. To be call "fatalistic" is one of the worst criticisms one can
receive in the American context; to an American, it means one is superstitious and lazy, unwilling to take
13
any initiative in bringing about improvement.
xxx In the United States, people consider it normal and right that Man should control Nature, rather than
the other way around. More specifically, people believe every single individual should have control over
whatever in the environment might potentially affect him or her. The problems of one’s life are not seen as
having resulted from bad luck as much as having come from one’s laziness in pursuing a better life.
Furthermore, it is considered normal that anyone should look out for his or her own self-interests first and
foremost.
xxx Most Americans find it impossible to accept that there are some things that lie beyond the power of
humans to achieve. And Americans have literally gone to the moon, because they refused to accept earthly
limitations.
xxx Americans seem to be challenged, even compelled, to do, by one means or another (and often at great
cost) what seven-eighths of the world is certain cannot be done.
2. CHANGE
xxx In the American mind, change is seen as an indisputably good condition. Change is strongly linked to
development, improvement, progress, and growth. Many older, more traditional cultures consider change as
a disruptive, destructive force, to be avoided if at all possible. Instead of change, such societies value
stability, continuity, tradition, and a rich and ancient heritage—none of which are valued very much in the
United States.
xxx These first two values—the belief that we can do anything and the belief that any change is good—
together with an American belief in the virtue of hard work and the belief that each individual has a
responsibility to do the best he or she can do have helped Americans achieve some great accomplishments.
So whether these beliefs are true is really irrelevant; what is important is that Americans have considered
them to be true and have acted as if they were, thus, in effect, causing them to happen.
3. TIME AND ITS CONTROL
xxx Time is, for the average American, of utmost importance. To the foreign visitor, Americans seem to be
more concerned with getting things accomplished on time (according to a predetermined schedule) than
they are with developing deep interpersonal relations. Schedules, for the American, are meant to be planned
and then followed in the smallest detail.
xxx It may seem to you that most Americans are completely controlled by the little machines they wear on
their wrists, cutting their discussions off abruptly to make it to their next appointment on time.
xxx Americans’ language is filled with references to time, giving a clear indication of how much it is
valued. Time is something to be "on," to be "kept," "filled," "saved," "used," "spent," "wasted," "lost,"
"gained," "planned," "given," "made the most of," even "killed."
xxx The international visitor soon learns that it is considered very rude to be late—even by 10 minutes—for
an appointment in the United States. (Whenever it is absolutely impossible to be on time, you should phone
ahead and tell the person you have been unavoidably detained and will be a half hour—or whatever—late.)
xxx Time is so valued in America, because by considering time to be important one can clearly accomplish
more that if one "wastes" time and does not keep busy. This philosophy has proven its worth. It has enabled
Americans to be extremely productive, and productivity itself is highly valued in the United States. Many
American proverbs stress the value in guarding our time, using it wisely, setting and working toward
specific goals, and even expending our time and energy today so that the fruits of our labor may be enjoyed
at a later time. (This latter concept is called "delayed gratification.")
4. EQUALITY/EGALITARIANISM
14
Equality is, for Americans, one of their most cherished values. This concept is so important for Americans
that they have even given it a religious basis. They say all people have been "created equal." Most
Americans believe that God views all humans alike without regard to intelligence, physical condition or
economic status. In secular terms this belief is translated into the assertion that all people have an equal
opportunity to succeed in life. Americans differ in opinion about how to make this ideal into a reality. Yet
virtually all agree that equality is an important civic and social goal.
xxx The equality concept often makes Americans seem strange to foreign visitors. Seven-eighths of the
world feels quite differently. To them, rank and status and authority are seen as much more desirable
considerations—even if they personally happen to find themselves near the bottom of the social order.
Class and authority seem to give people in those other societies a sense of security and certainty. People
outside the United States consider it reassuring to know, from birth, who they are and where they fit into
the complex system called "society".
xxx Many highly-placed foreign visitors to the United States are insulted by the way they are treated by
service personnel (such as waiters in restaurants, clerks in stores, taxi drivers, etc.). Americans have an
aversion to treating people of high position in a deferential manner, and, conversely often treat lower class
people as if they were very important. Newcomers to the United States should realize that no insult or
personal indignity is intended by this lack of deference to rank or position in society. A foreigner should be
prepared to be considered "just like anybody else" while in the country.
5. INDIVIDUAL AND PRIVACY
xxx The individualism that has been developed in the Western world since the Renaissance, beginning in
the late 15th century, has taken its most exaggerated form in 20th century United States. Here, each
individual is seen as completely and marvelously unique, that is, totally different from all other individuals
and, therefore, particularly precious and wonderful.
xxx Americans think they are more individualist in their thoughts and actions than, in fact, they are. They
resist being thought of as representatives of a homogenous group, whatever the group. They may, and do,
join groups—in fact many groups—but somehow believe they’re just a little different, just a little unique,
just a little special, from other members of the same group. And they tend to leave groups as easily as they
enter them.
xxx Privacy, the ultimate result of individualism is perhaps even more difficult for the foreigner to
comprehend. The word "privacy" does not even exist in many languages. If it does, it is likely to have a
strongly negative connotation, suggesting loneliness or isolation from the group. In the United States,
privacy is not only seen as a very positive condition, but it is also viewed as a requirement that all humans
would find equally necessary, desirable and satisfying. It is not uncommon for Americans to say—and
believe—such statements as "If I don’t have at least half an hour a day to myself, I will go stark raving
mad."
xxx Individualism, as it exists in the United States, does mean that you will find a much greater variety of
opinions (along with the absolute freedom to express them anywhere and anytime) here. Yet, in spite of this
wide range of personal opinion, almost all Americans will ultimately vote for one of the two major political
parties. That is what was meant by the statement made earlier that Americans take pride in crediting
themselves with claiming more individualism than, in fact, they really have.
6. SELF-HELP CONTROL
xxx In the United States, a person can take credit only for what he or she has accomplished by himself or
herself. Americans get no credit whatsoever for having been born into a rich family. (In the United States,
that would be considered "an accident of birth.") Americans pride themselves in having been born poor
15
and, through their own sacrifice and hard work, having climbed the difficult ladder of success to whatever
level they have achieved—all by themselves. The American social system has, of course, made it possible
for Americans to move, relatively easily, up the social ladder.
xxx Take a look in an English-language dictionary at the composite words that have "self" as a prefix. In
the average desk dictionary, there will be more than 100 such words, words like self-confidence, selfconscious, self-control, self-criticism, self-deception, self-defeating, self-denial, self-discipline, self-esteem,
self-expression, self-importance, self-improvement, self-interest, self-reliance, self-respect, self-restraint,
self-sacrifice—the list goes on and on. The equivalent of these words cannot be found in most other
languages. The list is perhaps the best indication of how seriously Americans take doing things for one’s
self. The "self-made man or women" is still very much the ideal in 20th-century America.
7. COMPETITION AND FREE ENTERPRISE
xxx Americans believe that competition brings out the best in any individual. They assert that it challenges
or forces each person to produce the very best that is humanly possible. Consequently, the foreign visitor
will see competition being fostered in the American home and in the American classroom, even on the
youngest age level. Very young children, for instance, are encouraged to answer questions for which their
classmates do not know the answer.
xxx You may find the competitive value disagreeable, especially if you come from a society that promotes
cooperation rather than competition. But many U.S. Peace Corps volunteers teaching in Third World
countries found the lack of competitiveness in a classroom situation equally distressing. They soon learned
that what they thought to be one of the universal human characteristics represented only a peculiarly
American (or Western) value.
xxx Americans, valuing competition, have devised an economic system to go with it—free enterprise.
Americans feel strongly that a highly competitive economy will bring out the best in its people and,
ultimately, that the society that fosters competition will progress most rapidly. If you look for it, you will
see evidence in all areas—even in fields as diverse as medicine, the arts, education, and sports—that free
enterprise is the approach most often preferred in America.
8. FUTURE ORIENTATION
xxx Valuing the future and the improvements Americans are sure the future will bring means that they
devalue that past and are, to a large extent, unconscious of the present. Even a happy present goes largely
unnoticed because, happy as it may be, Americans have traditionally been hopeful that the future would
bring even greater happiness. Almost all energy is directed toward realizing that better future. At best, the
present condition is seen as preparatory to a latter and greater event, which will eventually culminate in
something even more worthwhile.
xxx Since Americans have been taught (in value 1) to believe that Man, and not Fate, can and should be the
one who controls the environment, this has made them very good at planning and executing short-term
projects. This ability, in turn, has caused Americans to be invited to all corners of the earth to plan and
achieve the miracles that their goal-setting can produce.
xxx If you come from a culture such as those in the traditional Moslem world, where talking about or
actively planning the future is felt to be a futile, even sinful, activity, you will have not only philosophical
problems with this very American characteristic but religious objections as well. Yet it is something you
will have to learn to live with, for all around you Americans will be looking toward the future and what it
will bring.
9. ACTION/WORK ORIENTATION
16
xxx "Don’t just stand there," goes a typical bit of American advice, "do something!" This expression is
normally used in a crisis situation, yet, in a sense, it describes most American’s entire waking life, where
action—any action—is seen to be superior to inaction.
xxx Americans routinely plan and schedule an extremely active day. Any relaxation must be limited in
time, pre-planned, and aimed at "recreating" their ability to work harder and more productively once the
recreation is over. Americans believe leisure activities should assume a relatively small portion of one’s
total life. People think that it is "sinful" to "waste one’s time," "to sit around doing nothing," or just to
"daydream."
xxx Such a "no nonsense" attitude toward life has created many people who have come to be known as
"workaholics," or people who are addicted to their work, who think constantly about their jobs and who are
frustrated if they are kept away from them, even during their evening hours and weekends.
xxx The workaholic syndrome, in turn, causes Americans to identify themselves wholly with their
professions. The first question one American will ask another American when meeting for the first time is
related to his or her work: "Where do you work?," or "Who (what company) are you with?"
xxx And when such a person finally goes on vacation, even the vacation will be carefully planned, very
busy and active.
xxx America may be one of the few countries in the world where it seems reasonable to speak about the
"dignity of human labor," meaning by that, hard, physical labor. In America, even corporation presidents
will engage in physical labor from time to time and gain, rather than lose, respect from others for such
action.
10. INFORMALITY
xxx If you come from a more formal society, you will likely find Americans to be extremely informal, and
will probably feel that they are even disrespectful of those in authority. Americans are one of the most
informal and casual people in the world, even when compared to their near relative—the Western
European.
xxx As one example of this informality, American bosses often urge their employees to call them by their
first names and even feel uncomfortable if they are called by the title "Mr." or "Mrs."
xxx Dress is another area where American informality will be most noticeable, perhaps even shocking. One
can go to a symphony performance, for example, in any large American city nowadays and find some
people in the audience dressed in blue jeans and tieless, short-sleeved shirts.
xxx Informality is also apparent in American’s greetings. The more formal "How are you?" has largely
been replaced with an informal "Hi." This is as likely to be used to one’s superior as to one’s best friend.
xxx If you are a highly placed official in your own country, you will probably, at first, find such informality
to be very unsettling. American, on the other hand, would consider such informality as a compliment!
Certainly it is not intended as an insult and should not be taken as such.
11. DIRECTNESS, OPENNESS AND HONESTY
xxx Many other countries have developed subtle, sometimes highly ritualistic, ways of informing other
people of unpleasant information. Americans, however, have always preferred the first approach. They are
likely to be completely honest in delivering their negative evaluations. If you come from a society that uses
the indirect manner of conveying bad news or uncomplimentary evaluations, you will be shocked at
Americans’ bluntness.
xxx If you come from a country where saving face is important, be assured that Americans are not trying to
make you lose face with their directness. It is important to realize that an American would not, in such case,
lose face. The burden of adjustment, in all cases while you are in this country, will be on you. There is no
17
way to soften the blow of such directness and openness if you are not used to it except to tell you that the
rules have changed while you are here. Indeed, Americans are trying to urge their fellow countrymen to
become even more open and direct. The large number of "assertiveness" training courses that appeared in
the United States in the late 1970s reflects such a commitment.
xxx Americans consider anything other than the most direct and open approach to be dishonest and
insincere and will quickly lose confidence in and distrust anyone who hints at what is intended rather than
saying it outright.
xxx Anyone who, in the United States, chooses to use an intermediary to deliver that message will also be
considered manipulative and untrustworthy.
12. PRACTICALITY AND EFFICIENCY
xxx Americans have a reputation of being an extremely realistic, practical and efficient people. The
practical consideration is likely to be given highest priority in making any important decision in the United
States. Americans pride themselves in not being very philosophically or theoretically oriented. If
Americans would even admit to having a philosophy, it would probably be that of pragmatism.
xxx Will it make any money? Will it "pay its own way?" What can I gain from this activity? These are the
kinds of questions that Americans are likely to ask in their practical pursuit, not such questions as: Is it
aesthetically pleasing? Will it be enjoyable?, or Will it advance the cause of knowledge?
xxx This practical, pragmatic orientation has caused Americans to contribute more inventions to the world
than any other country in human history. The love of "practicality" has also caused Americans to view
some professions more favorably than others. Management and economics, for example, are much more
popular in the United States than philosophy or anthropology, law and medicine more valued than the arts.
xxx Another way in which this favoring of the practical makes itself felt in the United States, is a belittling
of "emotional" and "subjective" evaluations in favor of "rational" and "objective" assessments. Americans
try to avoid being too sentimental in making their decisions. They judge every situation "on its merits." The
popular American "trail-and-error" approach to problem solving also reflects the practical. The approach
suggests listing several possible solutions to any given problem, then trying them out, one-by-one, to see
which is most effective.
13. MATERIALISM/ACQUISITIVENESS
xxx Foreigners generally consider Americans much more materialistic than Americans are likely to
consider themselves. Americans would like to think that their material objects are just the natural benefits
that always result from hard work and serious intent—a reward, they think, that all people could enjoy were
they as industrious and hard-working as Americans.
xxx But by any standard, Americans are materialistic. This means that they value and collect more material
objects than most people would ever dream of owning. It also means they give higher priority to obtaining,
maintaining and protecting their material objects than they do in developing and enjoying interpersonal
relationships.
xxx The modern American typically owns:






one or more color television sets,
an electric hair dryer,
an electronic calculator,
a tape recorder and a record player,
a clothes-washer and dryer,
a vacuum cleaner,
18




a powered lawn mower (for cutting grass),
a refrigerator, a stove, and a dishwasher,
one or more automobiles,
and a telephone. Many also own a personal computer.
xxx Since Americans value newness and innovation, they sell or throw away their possessions frequently
and replace them with newer ones. A car may be kept for only two or three years, a house for five or six
before trading it in for another one.
SUMMARY
xxx Now that we have discussed each of these 13 values separately, if all too briefly, let us look at them in
list form (on the left) and then consider them paired with the counterpart values from a more traditional
country (on the right):
U.S. Values Some Other Countries' Values
Personal Control over the Environment
Change
Time & Its Control
Equality
Individualism/Privacy
Self-Help
Competition
Future Orientation
Action/Work Orientation
Informality
Directness/Openness/Honesty
Practicality/Efficiency
Materialism/Acquisitiveness
Fate
Tradition
Human Interaction
Hierarchy/Rank/Status
Group’s Welfare
Birthright Inheritance
Cooperation
Past Orientation
"Being" Orientation
Formality
Indirectness/Ritual/"Face"
Idealism
Spiritualism/Detachment
Which list more nearly represents the values of your native country?
APPLICATION
xxx Before leaving this discussion of the values Americans live by, consider how knowledge of these
values explains many things about Americans.
xxx One can, for example, see America’s impressive record of scientific and technological achievement as
a natural result of these 13 values.
xxx First of all, it was necessary to believe (1) these things could be achieved, that Man does not have to
simply sit and wait for Fate to bestow them or not to bestow them, and that Man does have control over his
own environment, if he is willing to take it. Other values that have contributed to this record of
achievement include (2) an expectation of positive results to come from change (and the acceptance of an
ever-faster rate of change as "normal"); (3) the necessity to schedule and plan ones’ time; (6) the self-help
concept; (7) competition; (8) future orientation; (9) action work orientation; (12) practicality; and (13)
materialism.
xxx You can do the same sort of exercise as you consider other aspects of American society and analyze
them to see which of the 13 values described here apply. By using this approach you will soon begin to
19
understand Americans and their actions. And as you come to understand them, they will seem less
"strange" than they did at first.
20
American Values Persuasive Essay
Write a well-organized multi-paragraph persuasive essay in which you evaluate two of the values
writer Robert Kohls argues Americans hold dear. Use evidence from any or all of the essays we’ve
studied this unit, as well as personal experience, current events, and/or historical examples to
support your argument. Choose your evidence so that you are also drawing on two of the three
persuasive appeals (as you already know, logos and pathos are the easiest to use).
Process:
1. Choose 2 values from Kohls’ article.
2. Brainstorm evidence that can prove Kohls is correct OR incorrect in his statement of these 2
values.
3. Look at your evidence. Check to be sure that you included types of evidence that fit in two
of the three persuasive appeal categories. For example, personal experience evidence fits
pathos, and statistics fit logos. You must have two types of persuasive appeals in your essay.
4. Write your thesis statement. This is your primary argument (what you are trying to persuade
your audience—me—to believe) and will answer the question of how accurate Kohls was on
these 2 American values.
5. Come back to your intro paragraph later. Right now, work on body paragraphs. Topic
sentence, evidence (CD), commentary (how does this evidence prove your argument?),
concluding sentence. In the body paragraphs, you must have at least 2 CD-COMM chunks—
3 is better. Cite all your evidence parenthetically with the authors’ last names.
6. Write your intro and conclusion paragraphs.
7. Type the paper. Use spellcheck. Then proofread your work, since spellcheck doesn’t catch
everything. Then get a friend or family member to proofread for you, too.
8. Turn your paper in on Friday, October 14.
21
Instructions for a Rhetorical Précis
A précis is four sentences that describe and analyze an author’s argument, organization, purpose,
and audience.
Sentence #1
Names of author, phrase describing author, the type/genre of the work, date published, a
verb to show what the author is doing in the work, and the author’s main claim or argument
in the text.
Example:
Sentence #2
How the author organizes his/her evidence and claims (like compare and contrast, narration,
definition, etc.). Present information in the same order the author uses.
Example:
Sentence #3
Tell the author’s purpose for writing, followed by the “in order to” phrase to explain what
the author wants the audience to think or do.
Example:
Sentence #4
Describe the target audience. Be specific.
Example:
22