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Justin Le
Professor Beadle
English 113B
24 February 2016
Two Worlds
Culture affects spaces you are in right now. First of all, what is culture? When most
people think about culture they think about their ethnicity or traditions. However, in Kurlos
article Culture and Communication, culture is defined as, any group of people that share a
way of life (3). I am a part of the college student culture. College students are always affected
by school. They are affected either financially or academically. College students are typically
taking out loans or paying out of pocket for college. They are usually unemployed, therefore and
college students worry about money and their grades. Students worry about their grades, turning
in assignments and classes. Although, Im also a part of the Asian American I worry about
fulfilling expectations set by my culture. Asian American culture is centered on how my parents
are seen by my family members. Most of my parents decision depend how they would look
toward the family. Asian American and student culture both consider finances and family
expectation. That effect my decisions on what I spend, behaviors of how I act in certain spaces,
and my habits.
The student culture affects my financial decisions. For example, when I go out to eat I try
to save as much money as I can because I know I need to budget. My parents are paying for my
tuition and I do not want to a heavy burden for them. I am now spending most of my budget on
my needs instead of my wants because I am a part of the poor college student culture. If I did not
budget I would need to take out a loan just like the, 40 million Americans [that] have at least

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one outstanding student loan, according to [the] new analysis from credit bureau Experian. That's
up from 29 million consumers in 2008 (Ellis) in the CNN Money report. Being a part of the
college student culture and being unemployed I am always on the lookout for a job. Recently, I
applied to the Student Recreation Center or SRC for the position at the Rock Wall. I did my best
to get the job and made it to the interview part, but sadly I did not get the job. I felt like I failed
my family because I did not get the job. I did not live up to their expectations to help with the
payment in some way. I could feel the pressure of my parents wanting me to get a job because
my cousin recently got a job at her school and my father always wants to be better than his
brother.
Student and Asian American cultures goes hand in hand. A student in the student culture
wants to get good grades and get a job after college. The Asian American parents believe that
their children should go to college get good grades and get a good job after college. Asian
American students have expectation from their family. My family expects me to do well in
school and get into a top school. To live up to these expectations, I do a lot of studying in order
to get good grades so I can fulfill my familys expectations. I choose to spend most of my time at
the library because I need to study and focus on my work and not get distracted. My family only
worries about how their children look on paper, not if they are happy with what they are doing.
They assume happiness comes with money, but it does not.
Student and Asian American culture does go hand in hand, but there are a few things that
conflict between Student and Asian American culture. Student culture is not just studying, there
is the side where students party. Most people who go through college they have gone to at least
one party during their college career. Asian American cultures expectation of doing good in
school conflicts here because sometimes I am out partying and I am not studying, then I am not

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living up to the expectations that my parents have. I do not like how my parents hold their
children on such a high pedestal just to keep up with their siblings.
However, their expectations are not always horrible because I did not know what to do
when I got older, but they always have given me the idea that engineering is a good career field
and I am actually enjoying my classes. It is very common for Asian immigrant families, who
often hold strong beliefs about upward social mobility through career or educational
achievement to tell their children that they should be a doctor, engineer or lawyer (Hui 11).
Parents tell their children that they should have one these jobs to be happy because they want
their kids not to worry about money and enjoy life. My parents always told me to work hard and
get a well-paying job not be financially struggling because they know how that felt. Coming to a
new country and have absolutely no money and have to figure out how to eat or live.
There are only a few places where I can get work done. These places have become spaces
where I can only get work done or have fun in because places are physical locations, spaces are
psychological (Jackson, Glenn, and Williams 119). When I go to the library to study sometimes
I see my friends and we chat. The library is just a place in the school, but it has become a space
where I can do only get my work done. If I am doing my work not in the library, I tend to not get
anything done. At the library I try to be respectful to others. I am trying to get my assignments
done while at the library. The library has become a place where I can only be productive. I
noticed when I go home for the weekend I usually do not getting any studying done because I am
in a space that does not influence me to get my work done. Usually, when I am at home my
parents make me do chores and fix up the house, and I end up not doing my homework and
leaving it to the night before or the morning before class. I know that my work ethic increases if
the space Im in is geared towards students.

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Asian American student culture effects my habits because I want to make the most of my
time. I do not like to waste time. I like to do things in the most efficient way. I do not like to
waste my time because my parents always told me the only thing you cannot get back is time, so
do not waste it. In the journal The Influence of Culture on Parenting Practices of East Asian
Families and Emotional Intelligence of Older Adolescents says, [Asian parents] generally wish
to maintain their values and their habits (Sung 200). My parents habits that they brought with
them when they came to the United States passed on to me. I gotten into the routine at every
Chinese New Year, to rearranging my room and change the position of my bed because my mom
believes that if I sleep positioned a certain direction, then I will have bad luck. I always do it
because I do not want to take the chance of having bad luck. Having parents that are very
superstitious is a part of my identity. It made me believe in superstitions because my parents
always ended up being right. If I did not move my bed, I would end up having a bad but if I did
move my bed I end up having a great year. Another habit that passed on me is that I have high
family values. My parents say Family can never leave you so learn to put up with them, this
meant that I have to be nice to my family because I cannot get rid of them. Habits are passed
down through generations because that is what you are used to do therefore you keep doing it.
Asian American culture and student culture go together both culture have a positive
outlook for future careers and higher education. There are some conflicts between the two
cultures, but its small compared to the similarities. The two culture have spaces, but no space
where they share exactly. Identities are show through how we act in spaces because our culture
spills through into our action and it shows what are your identities.

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Work Cited
Ellis, Blake. "40 Million Americans Now Have Student Loan Debt."CNNMoney.
Cable News Network, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 May 2016.
<http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/10/pf/college/student-loans/>.
Hui, Kayi. "The Roles of Family and Culture in the Career Interests and Choice Goals of Asian
American College Students: A Test of Social Cognitive Career Theory." Order No.
3643964 University of Maryland, College Park, 2014. Ann Arbor:ProQuest. Web. 23
Feb. 2016.
Jackson, Ronald L., II, Cerise Glenn, and Kesha Morant Williams. "Self-Identity and Culture."
Inter/cultural Communication: Representation and Construction of Culture.
By Anastacia Kurylo. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2013. N. pg. Print.
Kurylo, Anastacia. "Culture and Communication." Inter/cultural Communication:
Representation and Construction of Culture. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2013. N. pg. Print.
Sung, H. Y. "The Influence of Culture on Parenting Practices of East Asian Families and
Emotional Intelligence of Older Adolescents: A Qualitative Study." School Psychology
International 31.2 (2010): 199-214. Web.