What are some of the consequences of assimilating and not assimilating into the American culture?

While assimilating into the American culture might give you better opportunities I also affects you and the next generations in your family by losing your roots, for example if the first generation gives in to the culture the generations after that will know less about their main culture until it’s forgotten. Also by assimilating into the culture it’s not going to chance your appearance, this might not apply to everyone but it does to members of minorities and or kids of interracial relationships, not just because you learn the language, change the way you dress or change the way your name is pronounced or spelled is going to make you look less like the rest of your ethnic group. By not assimilating into the culture your opportunities might be less than those who did. It also might isolate you from those who did. For example, when I first attended school in the United States I would only talk to the students in the Puente program, who were learning English, I was told not to talk to the pochos, whites, blacks and chinos, because they would discriminate me for not speaking the language. This kept me from being part of many activies because they were just for the English speakers. The same thing happened when I moved to another middle school in East Palo Alto, but this time it was the pochos who told me not to talk to the rest of the ethnic groups. In my opinion assimilating and not assimilating into the American culture has good and bad consequences; I prefer to stay in the middle of them. I will learn the language and try my best to “fit in” in order to have a better future, but will never leave my culture behind because it defines who I am.

Puente: Bridge to English Program, a program for newcomers to our country. After these students gain English language skills they have the opportunity to apply to attend the MIT program.
http://www.rcsd.k12.ca.us/mit

*pochos- term used by native-born Mexicans to describe Chicanos who are perceived to have forgotten or rejected their Mexican heritage to some degree.
*chinos- Spanish word translating as Chinese, in this case all it was used to refer to all who are asian or pacific islanders.

Note: I apologize because this is not what you were looking for in this assignment, but I had trouble figuring out what to write so I combined two of the questions and gave my opinion on the subject.