School Multicultural Night

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I spoke to the teacher and she said they want countries, not states. I think we will just sit this one out. DH and I are from different states anyways.

I do wish they would change these events to "Family history" night. I don't feel excluded (or walking shame like someone said), but we're talking about kids who don't understand totally yet.

I’d write the principal and tell them it’s discrimination to not include the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in cultural diversity night

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't get it. I think you're upset because you think showcasing the US does not make you look interesting enough, so you wish it was family history (what a horrible suggestion to make by the way). No, no no, you Americans don't get to claim other nationalities/cultures just because you are uncomfortable with the state of your country today.

How many generations do you have to be in the U.S. before you can no longer claim another country as heritage (according to you)? Can children of immigrants claim the other country? Can grandchildren? Great-grandchildren?

Claim the country you were born in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen families show off their state of origin rather than a country.

OK, but no child should be allowed to show off the state of Georgia.

It is the worst state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen families show off their state of origin rather than a country.

OK, but no child should be allowed to show off the state of Georgia.

It is the worst state.

Florida has entered the chat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't get it. I think you're upset because you think showcasing the US does not make you look interesting enough, so you wish it was family history (what a horrible suggestion to make by the way). No, no no, you Americans don't get to claim other nationalities/cultures just because you are uncomfortable with the state of your country today.

How many generations do you have to be in the U.S. before you can no longer claim another country as heritage (according to you)? Can children of immigrants claim the other country? Can grandchildren? Great-grandchildren?

To me these are two different things. The event OP is referring to is about showing your culture. Clearly her child's culture is not in another country. She says it herself. She has European roots if you go back several generations, but we are not talking about genealogy here. Everybody has roots somewhere, it doesn't mean you belong to that place or that you have anything in common with the people who live there. Look, I find it funny but annoying that the world' superpower, whose culture has been exported and valued the most, is filled with people who, despite being constantly told that they are superior to the "rest of the world", feel the need to claim a different culture to feel special.

How do you define 'culture' then?

Clearly OP doesn't feel she has any culture of any kind, which I feel is odd -- everyone has a 'culture'. OP's culture might just be so unapparent to her that she can't describe it. Certainly someone outside of OP's culture could tell her some aspects of her culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m an immigrant and it bugs me a little when multi generational Americans claim another country as their heritage as I find that most of them don’t actually know much about that country. At this point your cultural background is American!

Where are you from? It is highly likely that your culture comes from "other heritages." And will you be happy for your children and grandchildren to give up your own culture? Because that is what you are expecting others to do.

You have to give to get.

If I moved to India or Sweden I would expect my children to take on some of the traits of that culture. If that’s too much of a sacrifice to get whatever good aspects drew me there I would choose not to go.

It’s really quite simple.

[Anonymous]

Some googling would probably reveal what country your husband’s last name is from. Or if it’s Jewish, you could just do ashkenazi Jewish as the culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some googling would probably reveal what country your husband’s last name is from. Or if it’s Jewish, you could just do ashkenazi Jewish as the culture.

But that's not their culture. Showing off something American should be perfectly acceptable. Bring hot dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m an immigrant and it bugs me a little when multi generational Americans claim another country as their heritage as I find that most of them don’t actually know much about that country. At this point your cultural background is American!

Where are you from? It is highly likely that your culture comes from "other heritages." And will you be happy for your children and grandchildren to give up your own culture? Because that is what you are expecting others to do.

You have to give to get.

If I moved to India or Sweden I would expect my children to take on some of the traits of that culture. If that’s too much of a sacrifice to get whatever good aspects drew me there I would choose not to go.

It’s really quite simple.

PP - I think we are on the same side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some googling would probably reveal what country your husband’s last name is from. Or if it’s Jewish, you could just do ashkenazi Jewish as the culture.

But that's not their culture. Showing off something American should be perfectly acceptable. Bring hot dogs.

Maybe teaching them about other cultures is part of the activity, so learning about their own heritage might be useful.

[Anonymous]

If you're white can't you just phone it in and wear traditional Irish or German clothing? Or tell your child to re-enact that Irish exit you made from the pool club that one year

[Anonymous]

my sister made my mom bring kraft mac & cheese to one of these when she was in elementary school

she also explained to my (northern) mom that "we lost the civil war" after a year of virginia 4th grade history

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some googling would probably reveal what country your husband’s last name is from. Or if it’s Jewish, you could just do ashkenazi Jewish as the culture.

But that's not their culture. Showing off something American should be perfectly acceptable. Bring hot dogs.

Maybe teaching them about other cultures is part of the activity, so learning about their own heritage might be useful.

These nights are generally about learning about traditions from other countries besides the us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some googling would probably reveal what country your husband’s last name is from. Or if it’s Jewish, you could just do ashkenazi Jewish as the culture.

But that's not their culture. Showing off something American should be perfectly acceptable. Bring hot dogs.

Maybe teaching them about other cultures is part of the activity, so learning about their own heritage might be useful.

These nights are generally about learning about traditions from other countries besides the us.

Yes... that's why I keep pointing out that people should learn about the heritage of the countries their ancestors are from. And not just say that they don't have a culture while everyone else does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, my family's heritage is literal Nazis, so we don't celebrate anything from our history. I'd probably go with some generic American thing.

Yeah, because the entirety of German culture and history is Nazis. Why don't you read a book?

Um hey so PP here back again. I mean literal Nazis. My grandparents and great grandparents were members of the Nazi party. Some of them by choice.