Why I still feel home in US (Part 3)

In Turkey every school week starts with a solemn ceremony: all the children assemble in the school’s courtyard to sing the national anthem. Sounds familiar? Then you can imagine how surprised I was when I accompany my ten-year-old son to the public elementary school in Austin. All children assemble in the school’s cafeteria to sing the national anthem, with their hand on their heart. After that, they also sing the anthem of the state of Texas, again with their hand on their heart. In the Netherlands, this would certainly be considered as an act of extreme nationalism. But for me it felt as though I had gone back to my school days in Turkey, thirty-four years back in time. And still, this was America, the year 2009!
In regard to the education of children, there are more resemblances between the US and Turkey. To give yet another striking example: in America, every school week begins with an act of good behavior, such as promise of honesty, integrity, and respect – exactly the same concepts as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, prescribed as the foundation of the moral education of Turkish children, which is taught still nowadays.

Fierce work-mentality

Americans are hard workers. They work at least nine hours a day, six days a week on average. In Turkey, the work-mentality is the comparable. When you have a job, you just work it, without nagging about ergonomics, interior climate or tight vacation schemes. Two weeks off a year is normal for both countries. Both in Turkey and the US I have seen office spaces that would incite workers from Europe to immediately run to their union. Somebody from Holland would go directly to complain about the health and safety situation. Tiny, humid workspaces that looked more like closets than office rooms. Still, the people who work here accept this without complaint. Why? Because if they don’t accept it, somebody else will – and get their job. The situation of working women in both countries is comparable as well. In the US as well as in Turkey working women work as hard as men. There’s hardly any room for part-time work, unlike in Europe, where women claim the right to work part-time, but still want the same opportunities as people working full-time.