The Problem with Ethnocentrism by Elle

The Problem with Ethnocentrism by Elle - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

As I have learned in my Behavioral Science class, there are many cultures around the world who have a different way of thinking and doing in their regular day-to-day lives. They have different foods, different standards, and different traditions. Many young adults in America, however, do not take advantage of their modern freedoms to travel and see other cultures. They believe that other cultures don't have anything new to offer because America is the greatest nation in the world. This belief is called ethnocentrism. If one looks at the world in a more cultural relative lens, one would see that just because a culture does not do things the same way that one is used to, that does not mean that the other culture is wrong. Sometimes, other cultures have a different but better way of doing something. This is why more college students should study abroad. They may learn a new and better method of doing things and bring these ideas back to America.
The base of America's constitution comes from the ideas of the Greeks and English philosopher John Locke. If America's founding fathers had believed that their own ideas were better than any other person in the history of the world, America would not have made it very far in the course of history. If America's top innovators would have never been open to the new technologies of other cultures, we may have never had an industrial revolution or sent a man to space. So if college students never travel to other cultures, they will have difficulty coming up with new and better ideas to make America a better place.