Ruth Benedict

Hi class,

I agree with Benedict, but to a certain extent. It honestly depends on the person. As a child, we are "creatures of our culture". At that stage of age, we do not know much and we are very dependent. Our habits and beliefs are shaped by how we are taught and raised. By default, we believe in what we are being taught, because we don't know any better. As we get older, we are exposed to other cultures and traditions. We start seeing that there are other ways to do thing, not just the way that we were taught. At this point, we are very capable of making our own decisions. Some people still would rather stick to their own culture and how they were raised, others branch out and start doing things differently. For example, I have a friend who was born and raised in Nigeria until the age of 18. At 18 him and his mother moved out here to America. Now we all know, they have a different way of doing things in Africa than how we do out here. Once my friend started to see the habits and traditions of our culture, he started to change and become more Americanized. But his mother stayed the same. She still goes by the customs and traditions of Africa. So as I mentioned earlier, it just depends on the person. 




I agree with Benedict to a certain extent. At a certain point in our lives, we are "creatures of our culture". It just depends on the person though. Some people as they grow older stays "creatures of our culture" and some others change and branch off.