Melting pot?

A comment on an earlier post got me to thinking about what it means to become an American. I work with a young man who comes from the African country of Ghana and I am always impressed about how interested he is in learning about "our ways." This is quite different from the immigrant rights people who have marched demanding "fair" treatment for those who have illegally entered our country.

In researching, I have come across a book entitled, "Reinventing the Melting Pot" which seems to be an in depth look at the idea of integrating immigrants into modern American society. According to the review, the consensus is that it is unrealistic to believe that we can (or should) achieve the sort of homogeneous integration that was prevalent in the 1950's but that we should strive for integration nonetheless.

I know that many of my more conservative friends are adament that anyone coming to this country should be expected to adopt all of our ways. They seem to forget that many of "our ways" come from the practices of previous immigrants that brought them into our collective practices.

Bottom line, I think there must be some middle ground between those who would grant all rights to illegal immigrants (otherwise, what's the purpose of citizenry?) and those who would require every immigrant to become an English-speaking, Republican, WASP.

Thoughts anyone?