America's ethnic groups have been expected to slip quietly into the mainstream of American society for decades. Today these groups loudly and proudly proclaim that they have not yet merged. Indeed, many of America's minorities have found renewed relevance and comfort in asserting their separate ethnic identities. Commonly, immigrant parents ponder whether the opportunities in America are worth sacrificing traditional cultures, before making the move to America. American society seems to be too powerful a magnet for most people born in this country to resist. The forces undermining ethnicity – suburbanization, mass education, social mobility, growing tolerance, and the existence of an American culture – are strong determinants that no large group in the past has been able to withstand indefinitely. It does not appear likely therefore, that any minority culture, except for small and dedicated groups (such as American Indians on reservations), can sustain all of its own cultural heritage and still fit in. After one or more generations of a family has grown up in America, the alteration of at least some of their native culture is inevitable.
             For most people in the immigrant generation, the promises of American life remained unfulfilled. Their offspring, though, do have greater opportunities. Ultimately, this fact serves as proof that most people who immigrate to America come in search of a better life and better opportunities for their children. When the head of a family makes the decision to move to a completely new area, they must be aware that not only their children and family will go through change, but the whole family will. In Julia Alvarez's piece How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the girls' father was torn between giving his girls a better life and "losing his girls to America." By saying he may lose his girls to America the father is discussing the fact that there ...