Unit Three Assessment using G.S.S.O.A. by Monica
Written by Monica – April 14, 2010.
Bob Droog, a spontaneous, honest person who loves exploring and experiencing new thing; was born nineteen years ago in Schagen, Netherlands to Bob Sr. and M. Droog. Having an interest in America culture, Bob moved to the United States as an exchange student in 2007. A year later, he moved back to Holland for a year and a half. He returned as an exchange student in January 2010. The only family member that Bob has in the United States is his sister Arisca. She attends Bowling Green University in Ohio. Moving to the United States was a different experience for Bob. He had to adjust and assimilate some of his traditions and learn how to live in the United States. Following Gordon’s seven stages of assimilation, the changes that had been taking place in Bob’s life and in other people from Netherlands can be recognized.
Gordon’s seven stages can be divided in to two groups: The immigrant group; assimilation made by immigrants coming to the new culture, and Host group; assimilation made by people than live in the culture. Culture assimilation, the first stage; was the most important and hardest adjustment for Bob. Almost everything is different between Netherlands and the United States, including language, food, sports, education, housing, religious, and more. For example soccer (voetbal) is the most important sport in Holland, but it is not in the United States; therefore; Bob doesn’t have the opportunity to enjoy his favorite sport like he used to. The second stage is the structural assimilation; this category has not affected Bob at all. He is not a member of any kind of institution or societal structure. For example, Bob said that he doesn’t follow politics at all but he wants to change that, learn more, and maybe become part of a group or institution. Next, marital assimilation, for people in Netherlands marriage is very important, serious, and they see it as a connection between two people who are in love. Bob is single but he said that he won’t have any problem marrying someone from a different country or cultural beliefs. One of the examples Bob gave me that sounds very interesting is that in his country education comes first, people go to school and after between the age of twenty four and thirty they get married. It is very strange for Bob seeing how high school graduates get married when they are eighteen or nineteen years old here in the United States. Lastly; Identificational assimilation; Bob won’t consider himself an American in identity, he will always think of himself as a Dutch man, but he will consider himself an American citizen, because like he said; America is a bunch of people from different countries together that live here and consider themselves American citizens. If Bob decides to stay in the United States for the rest of his life he will adjust to it regulations and add traditions as part of his life but he will still conserve his culture as much as he can.
The second group has three stages. To start, civic assimilation, it refers to the power given to immigrants in the host culture. Bob’s mom told him that President Obama’s ancestors had some Dutch in them. The remaining stages are very similar; attitude and behavior receptional assimilation; they refer to the prejudice and discrimination that immigrants suffer when they move to a different culture. In Bob’s case he has never experience any kind of discrimination; on the other hand; people love to know about his culture and he has a lot of friends.
In Holland, it is not common to move to the United States; but for the ones that move here it is not hard to assimilate and be part of this new culture. In my opinion Gordon’s seven stages of assimilations is not a good model because it generalizes without considering that every person is different as well as every culture. Adapting to a new culture and its traditions can be a traumatic experience for some people and a great experience for others; like Bob. People just have to take their chances and start their way to a new life full of changes.
