Equality.
Equality is an important American value. Americans say all people are created equal. Most believe all humans are alike. All people have potential. Everyone has a chance to succeed. For that reason, the American Education system is open. Even a college education is open to all people.
People from some other cultures find equality strange. For some, rank and status are valued. In these cultures, social classes are divided. People in these cultures know their status in society.
However, Americans do not treat people of high social status differently from others. This insults many foreign visitors. Even service people treat all people the same. Waiters, clerks and taxi drivers deal with people similarly. They do not recognize people of different social status. Foreigners to the United States should realize Americans are not trying to be impolite. Visitor should be prepared to be “just like anybody else.
Individualism.
In the United States, each individual is seen as completely unique. Every one is different from the others. Kohl says that Americans think they are more individualistic than they are. They don’t like to be considered a part of a group. They believe they are just a little different from other members of any other group they join.
Privacy is one effect of individualism. This is difficult for people from other cultures to understand. The word privacy does not even exist in many languages. If it does it usually has a negative meaning. It means loneliness. In the United States privacy is very positive. It is common for Americans to say, “If I don’t have time to myself, I will go crazy.”
Self – Help.
In the United States people are proud of their accomplishments. It’s important to do things by yourself. People who have easy life because their parents are rich are not valued as much as those who make their own money. Americans are proud if they climb the ladder of success by themselves. The American social system is open. It makes it possible for Americans to move up the social ladder. Other countries have social systems that discourage people from moving to a higher social status.
The value of self-help affects how Americans think about people. They celebrate poor people who work hard. Abraham Lincoln is a good example of this. He was born very poor. He didn’t have much formal schooling, but he taught himself law. Then he became a lawyer, a politician and finally a president of the United States. Through his hard work he became very important.
Competition.
Americans believe that competition makes people better. It brings out the best in people. They believe that people work harder then they are trying to better than others. Americans compete in many areas. They compete in the arts, education and sports. Americans feel that when people compete it makes society better.
Some people do not agree with the values of competition. Those people come from the cultures that value cooperation. Cooperation means working together, helping each other. For example, they believe children should learn how to work together to solve a problem in school. For them, cooperation is better then one person being the best.