Frank H. Wu is former Dean of Wayne State University Law School and co-chaired the Committee of 100 survey on American attitudes toward China, and Chinese attitudes toward America released in 2007.
Integrating U.S., Chinese Views Can Build Bridges
[keywords: assimilate, multiculturalism, global curriculum, American and Chinese attitudes]
My mother was right. I should have paid attention in Chinese school.
People with hyphenated backgrounds are the unique strength of the United States. We are able to build bridges across cultures, enhancing the competitive abilities of our American homeland.
Growing up in the Midwest in the 1970s, I did my best to assimilate. Nobody had heard of multiculturalism. My brothers and I wanted nothing less than to be the same as our neighbors, to eat the same meatloaf they had at dinner and to wear the same sneakers and jeans, as if such things would have ensured acceptance.
On Saturday mornings, we would rather watch cartoons on television than learn about the language and culture of our ancestors in daylong lessons. Yet the world around us changed more than anyone could have imagined.
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