The assimilation of different groups within the United States would seem to show that:
=_1. Under favorable conditions of equal opportunity, all racial groups, whatever their original homeland conditions and status, are capable of rapid social change both as individuals and as groups._=
“It can easily be shown,” says one scientist, “how dependent mental differences are upon social conditions. For instance, exact observations have been made on Negroes who have moved from the country to the city and it has been shown that assimilation of these people to the behavior of the city population takes place within a few years.
“Likewise, it has been shown in the case of Italian immigrants that they grow to resemble the Americans in behavior the longer they have been in this country, provided they do not remain isolated. One of the most instructive illustrations of this assimilation is the ease with which children adopt the dialect and manner of expression of their environment.”
=_2. All groups, under the stimulus of opportunity and contact, have capacity to produce exceptional individuals of high creative ability or genius and thus help build up and perfect human culture._=
The Nordic and Slav, the southern European and Jew, black, white, brown, and yellow have all produced men and women of outstanding brains and genius. To confirm these statements it is only necessary to read, in the pages that follow, the contributions of the immigrant and his descendants to American life.
Research studies, conducted on an objective basis, prove that individual brilliance may be and is, found in all groups.
=_3. Under the influence of a common environment, physical and cultural, the offspring of different racial and national groups in a democracy tend toward a common culture with common customs and ideals._=
John Dewey has emphasized that, “in a democratic society, individuals give freely to others of the peculiar value, essence, quality, and contribution of the group to which they belong, and receive freely the corresponding treasures of other groups, and this without violence to the complete uniqueness of the group.”
At birth, no individual has any culture and so the culture he eventually acquires is the one he finds around him and is capable of assimilating. However, “new conditions bring the need of new ideals and new emphasis on certain aspects of old ideals.” Civilization itself is not only safeguarded but advanced when a nation, composed of many races, finds it possible for each racial group to “function creatively in building the culture of the race into the whole culture pattern.”