Giver & Calif. Schools California Term Paper

As a result, while assimilating into the new culture, they simultaneously, inevitably, grow alienated from their original cultures and selves, in terms of language; cultural values and practices; priorities; world view - and even food, clothing, music, art, sports, games, and social associations and preferences.

The goals and philosophy of diversity in California classrooms are, of course, to preserve, celebrate, and honor diversity as much as possible (i.e. To notice and positively appreciate Jonas's light-colored eyes, although they are different), which is all to the positive. Still, in honest reality, those goals and that philosophy do not (and cannot) take into full account the realities of actual, real-life, cultural assimilation.Most foreign-born children in California schools indeed desire to assimilate, the sooner the better. Who, after all, would not prefer to be comfortable at school; to easily speak and understand the language spoken there; and to be fully accepted by, and fully included among, one's peers? But assimilation (i.e., erasure of "earlier self" memory), as Lowry brilliantly and implicitly points out, within The Giver, does not ever come without cost.

Assimilation, in fact, to continue Lowry's implicit metaphor, is arguably a 'giver' (in the most positive sense possible, at least) - but it is also a 'release', so-to-speak, into an entirely different selfhood, and life......