Assimilation as a necessary condition for immigrant success

¶ … Assimilation Help My Success?

The answer to this paper's overarching question, "Does assimilation help my success?," depends in large part on how success is defined. To the extent that success is defined as the fulfilment of personal and professional goals, then, yes, assimilation can help individuals succeed in a new country. From this perspective, assimilation has to do with a lot more than just ethnicity, language, or culture, though, because these elements come together to create the whole new self. This paper provides a review of the relevant literature together with empirical observations in the form of an exhibit concerning assimilation and its effect on success to support the conclusion that assimilation is necessary for success.

Personal Experience

The exhibit I discuss when addressing this issue is my personal experience as a Chinese-Korean immigrant. There have been three primary factors in my personal experience that support my contention that assimilation is necessary for success. The first factor relates to the need acquire fluency in English in order to achieve academic and professional success. This point is also made by Richard Rodriguez in his essay, "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood." In this essay, Rodriguez also recounts his early recollections concerning the importance of learning English in order to succeed in the classroom and in a vocation.

The second factor relates to the need to assimilate by adopting a new name that is congruent with mainstream society, a factor that relates in part to the first factor. For instance, adopting an American name avoids the potential for recruiters to think that an applicant does not possess fluency in English and it also avoids the potential for mispronunciations and the inevitable mutual embarrassment that ensues. The final factor involved concerns religious affiliation. While this is not a prerequisite for assimilation, some people may benefit by joining a religion that is consistent with their beliefs and values. In China, I never attended church but after living in the United States and learning about the Christian church, I decided that this religion offered more than just fellowship but legitimate salvation as well. As a result of this religious assimilation, I have been fortunate enough to meet my new sisters and brothers as a big family and I also recognized God bless us all and always gives people another chance. As a result, I have learned how to help people and to be a kinder person. Taken together, these outcomes represent the essence of my definition of personal and professional success.

Conclusion

From a strictly pragmatic perspective, it is reasonable to conclude that to the extent that people make the effort to assimilate into a new society will be the extent to which they enjoy personal and professional success. From a subjective perspective, though, some observers counter that people can pay too high a price in order to assimilate, a price that inevitably detracts from any definition of success. Despite this argument, personal observations and experiences confirm that assimilation is an important part of achieving personal and professional success in a new country, and new immigrants would be well advised to take this need into account as they pursue their new lives and dreams.