Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[tinazheng]

How are you guys! My new friends here in our new land!
I am a college student in China, Beijing, majoring in English, so I am quite interested in American culture. And I hope to get some native Americans' assitance to help me finish my recent assignment-- a brief report about American social problems.
If any friend here konw something about this topic, plese tell me, Thank you!
A brief list about the most urgent social problems in America nowadys should be quite good.
Thank you!

[barrymore]

i'm a chinese ,too!i'm glad to give you some suggestions!
Maybe you can watch some American movies which are about American living or families!"American Beauty"is a kind of american families movies!you can find out some american social problems in it!
_________________
Life was like a box of chocolates!!

[BakaGaijin]

...Do NOT base your views of american society off of a Hollywood movie. ESPECIALLY American Beauty. Contact your local Embassy for Videos about american Culture. Or just as your English teacher for his/her home videos. lol
_________________

I'm Kevin Tillman.
Japanese Exchange and Teaching ALT

[tinazheng]

Thank you both my Chinese friend and a humorous Japanese teacher. The cartoon picture is really quite lovely and make me quite happy, even though I still don't finish my assignment But the rude female teacher is really a little bit cruel
And, I also need more help about this topic. For instance, give me some websites addresses that refers to it or some essay about it. For example, I know that violent, divorce or gun are the severe social problems in America, what about others?
I am sorry, I know this is really a negative side in society, but please give some suggestions.
And I like watching Oprah's Talk Show, which showing me a real America, normal American people with extraordinary experience.

[BakaGaijin]

Guns aren't a problem in America. The real problem are the people who don't know how to control themselves when they HAVE a gun. I myself have 7 different firearms. Although I'm no longer there so I don't think I count... I'm pretty sure you base the status of America off of what you are seeing on TV right? Then I suggest you watch CNN instead of Daytime Shows like Oprah or Jerry Springer. Those really only bring up the extreme topics and people. To get a real grasp of America you should watch news from things like FOX or CNN. You can always get information from a US Embassy although you really won't get much negative stuff from them(Have to keep up a good international image right?)
_________________

I'm Kevin Tillman.
Japanese Exchange and Teaching ALT

[Corey]

Hi,

No offence Kevin but CNN isn't exactly "real life" either. In my opinion nothing you see on TV is real. If you want to know what is real you need to travel around. If you can't travel I would suggest surfing as many different forums on the web as you can and talk with as many people as possible.

Good luck,

Corey
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Niagara Summer Programs

[BakaGaijin]

lol Yeah, but you do get alot of information on current events. Hrm. I guess I'm not much of a PR person. lol
_________________

I'm Kevin Tillman.
Japanese Exchange and Teaching ALT

[Zanthrick]

U.S.A. is too big to really discuss its "social problems." As it depends too much on what area you are talking about. In most of Iowa talking about gun control is hard because there is a relatively small gun problem, but if you were talking about some parts of Chicago then it suddenly becomes easy to talk about and a much more "real" problem.

While your paper is probably well past due or almost complete, I would recommend at least splitting it up to different areas. Say rural areas Vs larger cities, the different social classes, economic classes.. that sort of thing.

But since I'm lazy today, here is a list

Education System: Unfortunately for most, Science and Math are well behind other countries. Often are nothing more then memmorizing large vocabulary lists and some facts. Many public schools are underfunded, and are treated as babysitting services.

Political Participation: "Democracy" has turned into mainly nothing more then voting. Issues rarely get discussed in public beyond the extreme stances on subjects in the "mass media." Essentially news channels like Fox and CNN. I believe you can watch our house and senate online through CSPAN.

"not our fault/problem" type attitude towards debt/Job market: This sort of ties in with the last topic. I probably won't do a good job of explaining what I mean . What I mean is there is a large attitude that because this is the U.S.A. if one goes to college( and supposedly gets a good education ) you are entitled to a high standard of living and pay compared to the rest of the world. Maybe you have to be a Teaching Assistant in Electrical Engineering to understand what that means... heh. Look up articles on topics such as research expanding in Asia. How in political speak "american companies are betraying the american people" by expanding jobs abroad instead of at home. Maybe I should have labelled this denial of the global world, or double standards for the rest of the world.

Health: Socially this is seen as Alcohol, Marijuana, Ciggaretes, and prescription abuse. From a systems perspective, healthcare is not as preventive as it should be. Many here will only goto the Doctor after they have problems. An example of this is the "american" diet. Too much fat and cholesterol. Not enough vitamins or "healthy" food. When people do go for help they often want a quick fix type of operation. Many will then continue on with an unhealthly lifestyle until the next expensive quick fix is needed.

I hope that helps.

[tinazheng]

Dear Mr.Zanthrick,
Thank you very much.
Today our class will check the paper together!

[liebe]

As someone has already written here, your topic is too broad. Also, please do NOT (I'd like to repeat it: DO NOT) base your opinion on the USA (or on any other country) based on what you see on TV (whether it's a movie or the news). Everything you see on TV is propoganda, or the extremes of a country. Here are some problems I see here (I've been living here for nearly 4 years):

Lack of socialism: There is a HUGE gap between the rich and the poor here. About 5% of the people control 95% of the money. About 20 million people have no health insurance here. Only a small portion of the people have good health care and good education. Too few people have really good uportunities. The working conditions here are awful: you can work in the same company for 40 years, and get kicked out, just like that. The vacations here are too short, the bosses always pay the minimum of what they are allowed to pay. Higher education is VERY expensive here, it is difficult to get financial aid, and basically, the poor have no way out of their poverty. The government doesn't give a damn about the common people, abuses its power and the people here don't know how to fight for their rights.

Hypocracy: People smile to you, wish you "have a nice day" but nobody really cares about you. Everybody talks about everybody behind his/her back, your "friends" are never really loyal to you, and your husband can leave you any sec for another chick.

Racism: Although it is not as bad as in other countries or as it once was, it still exists. It is much more difficult for blacks and immigrants and the American-Indians to get the same things as white Americans. Still, I find Europe to be much more racist and anti-semetic (especially anti-semetic) than America.

One last comment: In the USA the term "native-American" refers to the American-Indians, not to what you probably meant. You can say "born-in-America" "real Americans", or just "Americans".

Hope that helps! (:

[jazzie]

@ liebe:

Do you think hypocrisy is only a US-American problem? You'll meet it everywhere. That's for sure!
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"You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth." James Stewart in The Shop Around The Corner

[liebe]

No, I didn't say that hypocracy is only an American problem. I know quite well that many of the problems that I described above exist not only in the U.S, but in many other countries. Where are you from, btw.?
Liebe

[jazzie]

@ liebe:

I get it now. I just thought it is kind of confusing, because you posted your statement under the thread "American social problems" and this implies that hypocrisy is an all American problem.

I'm from Germany. Where are you from?
_________________
"You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth." James Stewart in The Shop Around The Corner

[liebe]

Well, I wrote down all of the social problems I could think of that exist here in America--regardless if they exist anywhere else or not. I was born in Russia but I live in the U.S. I've also lived in Israel before I came here. People always get confused by my nationality, and don't know to which group to assign me to. The truth is that I don't feel that I belong to a single country either.

[jazzie]

It's really difficult to assign you to one nationality. But do you feel sorry that you don't belong to a single country? I wouldn't, because you've seen and lived in different countries and that's what makes people more open-minded. I think the world would sometimes need more such people. At least, that's what I think.
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"You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth." James Stewart in The Shop Around The Corner