r/AskReddit•14 yr. ago

Non-Americans: What do you think of Americans taking part in ethnic heritage-themed activities (like "Jew camp," "Greek school," etc.)?

Americans often get flak from the Old Country for saying "I'm Irish" or "I'm Polish" or "I'm Chinese" or whatever, when we don't have Irish or Polish or Chinese citizenship. So how is it perceived in the Old Country when Americans do ethnic-specific activities in order to stay in touch with their heritage? Do you think of these things as Americans really trying to stay in touch with their heritage or are they perceived more as ethnic kitsch?

Examples:

This wonderful clip about "Greek school" from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Similar after-school or weekend heritage schools exist for many groups, like this after-school Hebrew school for Jews or this Saturday school Lithuanian school for Lithuanians.
Private schools like this Armenian school near Boston that teach either entirely in the heritage language or bilingually in the heritage language and English.
Heritage cultural groups like this awesome Armenian folk dance group or this Polish amateur theatre group?
Ethnic heritage-themed summer camps, like this chain of Hebrew-language camps for Jews or this Armenian camp.

(Alternatively, this thread could also become "let's talk about your awesome/weird/awful experiences at camp," because I went to Boy Scout camp and have no experience with these things and would love to hear your stories.)

Posted Mar 23, 2012, 3:50 PM UTC

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neeto85•14 yr. ago

I think "Jew Camp" might be a little insensitive.

InokuOP•14 yr. ago

That's how every single Jewish person I know has referred to Jewish-themed camps, so that's how I refer to them.

neeto85•14 yr. ago

I was kidding.

InokuOP•14 yr. ago

WHOOSH.

I'm dumb. I thought you were talking about usage of "Jew" as an adjective, not the whole "camp for Jews" idea.

[deleted]•14 yr. ago

American "German/Irish" white boy here: the last of my ancestors showed up in America in the 1870s or so. I have no ties to the "old country". Zilch. Next time they ask my ethnicity on the census, I'm putting "American".

InokuOP•14 yr. ago

Good for you, but that's not really what the thread is about. Thanks for the contribution, though.

-1

swordgeek•14 yr. ago

As a non-American, I'm not going to think about this issue.

I don't care. I'm tired of the US doing what it wants, and then the sensitive parts of it obsessively asking the rest of the world what it thinks. Why does it matter what we think? Are you going to change your behaviour? Do you need our approval?

Do whatever you want. Have summer camps for specific groups. Have schools for certain ethnicities. Hell, have KKK rallies on the white house lawn. Just quit screwing with the rest of the planet.

InokuOP•14 yr. ago

I'm sorry if I was unclear, but this thread actually isn't supposed to be about generic America-bashing. We have /r/worldpolitics for that. I was honestly asking what the Old Country folks think about Americans doing "Old Country"-related activities instead of or in addition to "American" activities.

I certainly was not asking for permission, I was just asking for your opinions.

barbarino•14 yr. ago

There is so few of these schools it's moot.

InokuOP•14 yr. ago

I think there are more than you might suspect.

For example, just for the Jewish community, in 2004 there were 759 Jewish day schools (i.e. not counting just Saturday or after-school Hebrew schools), with an enrollment of over 200,000 students.

Obviously the stuff I'm talking about is not done by every American family, but I think it's common enough that a) non-Americans might have heard about it, and b) they might have something interesting to say about it. Hence, why I started the thread.

Lots42•14 yr. ago

'Camp' and 'Jew' are phrases you want to be careful jamming together.