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Diversity results in better solutions to problems. In plain English, this means people have diverse approaches to solutions. In other words, diversity results in better solutions.
The United States of America, due to its immense size and diverse heritage, has one of the most complex cultural identities in the world. Students learn about several different metaphors that have been used to describe cultural diversity in the United States. Then they choose a metaphor that .
In an increasingly competitive global economy, diversity is good business. United we stand. In Grutter v. Still trying to sell that home? As the ratio of seniors to working-age residents rapidly increases, the boomers who try to sell their homes after retirement are going to increasingly rely on the growing youth population to come to their rescue.
Play ball! Looking forward to the big match up between brothers Jim and John Harbaugh when their teams the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens meet on Thanksgiving? Restrictions vary by state, but most are for the sake of practicality for example: limiting the number of characters due to limitations in record keeping software. This freedom, along with the cultural diversity in the United States has given rise to a wide variety of names and naming trends. Creativity has also long been a part of American naming traditions and names have been used to express personality, cultural identity, and values [40] [41] Naming trends vary by race, geographic area, and socioeconomic status.
African-Americans, for instance, have developed a very distinct naming culture. Fashion in the United States is eclectic and predominantly informal. While Americans' diverse cultural roots are reflected in their clothing, particularly those of recent immigrants, cowboy hats and boots and leather motorcycle jackets are emblematic of specifically American styles. Blue jeans were popularized as work clothes in the s by merchant Levi Strauss , a German-Jewish immigrant in San Francisco, and adopted by many American teenagers a century later.
They are worn in every state by people of all ages and social classes. Along with mass-marketed informal wear in general, blue jeans are arguably one of US culture's primary contributions to global fashion. Though informal dress is more common, certain professionals, such as bankers and lawyers , traditionally dress formally for work, and some occasions, such as weddings , funerals , dances , and some parties, typically call for formal wear.
Since , American schools focused on gymnastics, hygiene training, and care and development of the human body. Physical education was incorporated into primary school curriculums in the 20th century. Baseball is the oldest of the major American team sports. Professional baseball dates from and had no close rivals in popularity until the s.
Though baseball is no longer the most popular sport, [45] it is still referred to as "the national pastime. The Major League Baseball regular season consists of each of the 30 teams playing games from April to September. The season ends with the postseason and World Series in October. American football , known in the United States as simply "football," now attracts more television viewers than any other sport and is considered to be the most popular sport in the United States.
The National Football League differs from the other three major pro sports leagues in that each of its 32 teams plays one game a week over 17 weeks, for a total of 16 games with one bye week for each team. Its championship game, the Super Bowl , has often been the highest rated television show, and it has an audience of over million viewers annually. College football also attracts audiences of millions. Some communities, particularly in rural areas, place great emphasis on their local high school football team.
American football games usually include cheerleaders and marching bands , which aim to raise school spirit and entertain the crowd at halftime. Basketball is another major sport, represented professionally by the National Basketball Association.
It was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts in , by Canadian-born physical education teacher James Naismith. Ice hockey is the fourth leading professional team sport. Always a mainstay of Great Lakes and New England -area culture, the sport gained tenuous footholds in regions like the American South since the early s, as the National Hockey League pursued a policy of expansion. Lacrosse is a team sport of American and Canadian Native American origin and is the fastest growing sport in the United States. NLL and MLL are the national box and outdoor lacrosse leagues, respectively, and have increased their following in recent years.
Also, many of the top Division I college lacrosse teams draw upwards of 7—10, for a game, especially in the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas. Soccer is very popular as a participation sport, particularly among youth, and the US national teams are competitive internationally. A twenty-team professional league, Major League Soccer , plays from March to October, but its television audience and overall popularity lag behind other American professional sports. Boxing and horse racing were once [ when? Relative to other parts of the world, the United States is unusually competitive in women's sports, a fact usually attributed to the Title IX antidiscrimination law, which requires most American colleges to give equal funding to men's and women's sports.
The United States enjoys a great deal of success both in the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics , constantly finishing among the top medal winners. Homecoming is an annual tradition of the United States. People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back former residents and alumni.
It is built around a central event, such as a banquet , a parade , and most often, a game of American football , or, on occasion, basketball , wrestling or ice hockey. When celebrated by schools, the activities vary.
However, they usually consist of a football game, played on the school's home football field, activities for students and alumni, a parade featuring the school's marching band and sports teams, and the coronation of a Homecoming Queen. American high schools commonly field football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, golf, swimming, track and field, and cross-country teams as well.
Mainstream American culinary arts are similar to those in other Western countries. Wheat and corn are the primary cereal grains. Traditional American cuisine uses ingredients such as turkey , potatoes, sweet potatoes , corn maize , squash , and maple syrup , indigenous foods employed by American Indians and early European settlers, African slaves and their descendants.
The types of food served at home vary greatly and depend upon the region of the country and the family's own cultural heritage. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to that of their country of origin, and Americanized versions of these cultural foods, such as American Chinese cuisine or Italian-American cuisine often eventually appear. Vietnamese cuisine , Korean cuisine and Thai cuisine in authentic forms are often readily available in large cities.
German cuisine has a profound impact on American cuisine, especially mid-western cuisine; potatoes, noodles, roasts, stews, cakes, and other pastries are the most iconic ingredients in both cuisines. Different regions of the United States have their own cuisine and styles of cooking. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi, for example, is known for their Cajun and Creole cooking. Cajun and Creole cooking are influenced by French, Acadian, and Haitian cooking, although the dishes themselves are original and unique.
Italian, German, Hungarian and Chinese influences, traditional Native American, Caribbean, Mexican and Greek dishes have also diffused into the general American repertoire. It is not uncommon for a "middle-class" family from "middle America" to eat, for example, restaurant pizza, home-made pizza, enchiladas con carne, chicken paprikas, beef stroganof and bratwurst with sauerkraut for dinner throughout a single week.
Soul food , mostly the same as food eaten by white southerners, developed by southern African slaves, and their free descendants, is popular around the South and among many African-Americans elsewhere. Iconic American dishes such as apple pie , fried chicken , pizza , hamburgers , and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants and domestic innovations.
French fries , Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos , and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are consumed. Americans generally prefer coffee to tea, and more than half the adult population drinks at least one cup a day. Hamburgers , fries , and doughnuts are considered American foods. Traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. A cream-based New England chowder , traditionally made with clams and potatoes. A Caesar salad containing croutons, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire, and pepper. Creole Jambalaya with shrimp, ham, tomato, and Andouille sausage.
A submarine sandwich , which includes a variety of Italian luncheon meats. American style breakfast with pancakes, maple syrup, sausage links , bacon strips, and fried eggs. A hot dog sausage topped with beef chili, white onions and mustard. A barbecue pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw as the side dish.
Hamburgers , fries , and doughnuts are considered American foods. Cultural diversity supports the idea that every person can make a unique and positive contribution to the larger society because of, rather than in spite of, their differences. Traditionally celebrates the giving of thanks for the autumn harvest. Main article: Family structure in the United States. Archived from the original on December 11, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
An apple cobbler dessert. Family arrangements in the United States reflect the nature of contemporary American society, as they always have. Although the nuclear family concept two-married adults with biological children holds a special place in the mindset of Americans, it is single-parent families, childless couples, and fused families which now constitute the majority of families. The nuclear family Thus has arisen the term postmodern family , which is meant to describe the great variability in family forms, including single-parent families and child-free couples. Williams, Stacey C. Sawyer, Carl M.
Single-parent households are households consisting of a single adult most often a woman and one or more children. In the single-parent household, one parent typically raises the children with little to no help at all, from the other. This parent is the sole "breadwinner" of the family and thus, these households are particularly vulnerable economically.
They have higher rates of poverty , and children of these households are more likely to have educational problems. Other changes to the landscape of American family arrangements include dual-income earner households and delayed independence among American youths. Whereas most families in the s and s relied on one income earner, most commonly the husband, the vast majority of family households now have two-income earners.
Another change is the increasing age at which young Americans leave their parental home. Traditionally, a person past "college age" who lived with their parent s was viewed negatively, but today it is not uncommon for children to live with their parents until their mid-twenties.
This trend can be mostly attributed to rising living costs that are more expensive compared to those in decades past. Thus, many young adults now remain with their parents well past their mid-twenties. This topic was a cover article of TIME magazine in Historically, Americans mainly lived in a rural environment, with a few important cities of moderate size. Here, the more affluent members of the middle-class, who are also often referred to as being professional or upper middle-class, have left in search of larger homes in more exclusive suburbs.
This trend is largely attributed to the Middle-class squeeze , which has caused a starker distinction between the statistical middle class and the more privileged members of the middle class. The population of rural areas has been declining over time as more and more people migrate to cities for work and entertainment.
Electricity and telephones, and sometimes cable and Internet services are available to all but the most remote regions. About half of Americans now live in what is known as the suburbs. The suburban nuclear family has been identified as part of the " American Dream ": a married couple with children owning a house in the suburbs.