Summary Of Growing Up American Doing The Right Thing

People are from all over the world and knowing this, we have to be aware of the cultural differences that each person has. Dr. Rose Ihedigbo’s “Sandals in the Snow” and Amparo B. Ojeda’s “Growing Up American: Doing the Right Thing” are both stories on how different cultures are overlooked. Both the Ihedigbo family and Ojeda talked about their cultural differences between where they were from and America. A main similarity that both stories focused on was respect, especially for their parents, elders, and adults. “In the home, they resected their parents greatly, politely relating to them, paying deference to them and recognizing that they were the leaders and authoritarians of the household” (Ihedigbo 62). Children in America were often rude to their parents and elders. Households lacked “fear and accountability” (Ihedigbo 62). It was uncertain who was in charge of who. Parents were afraid their children would call Child Protective Services. …show more content…
“I vividly recall how, as children, we were reminded never to interrupt while adults especially in the company of adults, whether these people were kin, friends, or strangers” (Ojeda 235). The respect that both Ojeda and the Ihedigbo family show to the elderly and adults are similar. In Ojeda’s “Growing Up American”, she says that they American children would call each other and adults by their first name. For Ojeda, that was not an appropriate thing to do. Calling an individual who is older than you by their first name is highly