The United States is currently shifting from being a nation of immigrants of mainly European descent to one of immigrants from other parts of the world, such as Asia and Latin America. The number of recent immigrants has skyrocketed. They desire to escape economic hardship and political oppression in their native countries as well as the desire to seek a better education and a more prosperous life in America, “the land of opportunity”. Although there are frequent conflicts between the cultures they have brought with them from the “old country” and those found in America, most immigrants learn to adjust to and love their adopted land.
Americans have also learned much from the customs and ideas of the immigrants and are often influenced by them in subtle and interesting ways. Immigrants bring their native cultural and political attitudes, social patters, varied academic and religious backgrounds, and their ethnic arts, sports, holidays, festivals, and food. They have greatly enriched American life.
For immigrants from all parts of the world, the United States has been a “melting pot” in which they have sometimes remained culturally and linguistically what they were in their native lands even as they move toward becoming citizens of the United States, a country whose people share a common cultural outlook and set of values. A melting pot does not melt away all recollection of another way of life in another place—nor should it. On the contrary, immigrants should maintain the languages, skills, religions, customs and arts of their own heritage, even while they are working towards entering the mainstream of American culture.