Importance of Socialization on Child Development
Socialization is very important for children who begin the process at home with their family members and extend to it at school. Without socialization, there could be no society or culture. To illustrate the importance of socialization, I found a 5-year-old girl who seemed to have no human contact since birth. After birth, her mother fed her properly but never allowed the boy to interact with other kids and kept him in doors. By the age of 5 the child was afraid of other children, unable to speak well, unable to express his emotions, and also was unfamiliar with his culture. As the instance indicates, socialization exposes people to their culture and enables them to function as human beings through social interaction.
Role of Schools in the Process of Socialization
In the context of America, schools were the place where the American dream got nurtured. In the early 1990s, the influx of immigrants increased the demand for schools and good education by three million children. Schools contribute to a cultural transmission which shapes socialization. Also, schools allow immigrant children of diverse linguistic backgrounds to socialize and learn new languages while interacting. Further, the pressure to provide good education in America established more schools whereby the immigrants interacted with the natives and shared their cultures.
Americanization
Americanization involves making an immigrant in the US to become an individual who shares American customs, values, and beliefs by assimilating into the American society. Americanization promotes peace by eliminating potential violence in other countries against the US culture. Also, Americanization contributes to the democratization of other countries as well as the absorbing uniqueness of a country’s unique tradition and culture. On the negative end, Americanization erodes immigrants’ ability to acknowledge cultural diversity and evades heterogeneity when it results in commodities and consciousness that reflect only Americanism.