Marcela Herrera 201416555

Section 12

American Culture; Equality and Self-Help Concept

Herbert Hoover, an American president, used to say My country owes me nothing. It gave
me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action,
opportunity for service and honor. Clearly, this quote makes reference to two of the most
important values of American people according to Khols, Equality and Self-Help Concept;
these values can reflect their thoughts and their concepts about independence and
opportunities, and it gives us an idea of their behavior.
Most of Americans believe in the equality of opportunities, and it doesnt matter the
economic, social or physical condition of a person to get a chance of improving. In relation
to Kohls work, the religion is a big influence in the concept of this value. They think in
God as the humans creator and that his view about us is perfect. Therefore, there are a lot
of people working as volunteers or just helping homeless people, in order to give them an
opportunity as a Gods desire. Education is a big deal when you are talking about equality
on a specific society, then with the purpose of making this ideal a real fact, there are a many
programs for people with few chances to acquire a good education. Most of the American
education system is financially supported by the principal three levels of government:
Federal, stately and local. They made education mandatory until the age of sixteen or
eighteen, and their principal objective is assisting poor teenagers in their academic process
for giving them the tools for applying to a scholarship. Another important fact is the

relations between them. The rank or positions in society are not aspects that may influence
on the way Americans treat each other. Kohls points out that they tend to talk to everybody
as if they were important people, even when they are of high or low class. He also gives the
example of a foreign person of high position visiting America, and how
offended they feel with the treatment given by the service employees. Although the United
States is considered as a competitive country, its politics and laws are based on equality and
they continue in the process of improving their system to make it the most fair and
equitable as possible.
Self-Help concept is the second value you can perceive in the Hoovers quote, and
taking into account Kohls study, American people believe in their ability of getting over
anything by themselves, because being poor or rich is not up to fate, its up to them.
Changing their economic and social condition could be considered as a priority or the first
step to be success. Most of the people of great influence in Unites States started being of
low or media class, and they assumed to change their status as a challenge. This kind of
stories makes them to feel proud, because these are their personal goals they achieve with
hard work. Also, their success might be attributed to their capacity of getting conscious of
their qualities. The personal satisfaction that Americans feel because of making everything
by themselves, gives them confidence at the moment of facing serious issues. For example,
when a businessman is taking important decisions, it is essential to have positive feelings in
order to get more confident, then if he knows what he is talking about, he will be sure about
his chooses and its consequences. Actually, on the words of Khols, Americans ideal of a
woman or man is being independent and autonomous, and it could be the best sign for
understanding how seriously Americans take doing everything by themselves. In general,
even when the American social system has a big influence on the way that their citizens

improve their economic status, its all up to the self-help concept that every American
citizen has.
To conclude, understanding Herbert Hoovers words and recognizing its real
worth needs you to comprehend American behavior through identifying their values and its
concepts. The American system gives all people same opportunities and also procures to
defend their rights, in order to maintain the equality. Their independency shows their
positive self-concept, but it doesnt mean that they have more skills than another person, it
just demonstrates their confidence. In order to learn more about American culture it is
necessary to be conscious of the manner they see the world as a place full of opportunities.