In spite of all of the complexity implied in the assimilation process described above, immigrants in the United States are typically considered to be assimilated at that point where they have mastered the language sufficiently, have learned American behavioral customs sufficiently, and have sublimated their own behavioral customs sufficiently to permit them to function in American society with a minimum of difficulty (Gordon, 1964, p. 63). It is at this level of assimilation that American public schools have served to facilitate the assimilation of immigrant groups in the United States.

While American public schools have functioned to facilitate the assimilation of immigrant groups at the basic level of the meaning of the term, they have also served as institutional devices to preclude meaningful assimilation on a broader scale. The neighborhood school concept, which is dear to most Americans, assures that minority groups, for the most part, will have limited social intercourse with the majority population in the United States. Thus, while American public schools provide the language training, and indoctrination on social behaviors 3acceptable in the United States, they often f

The notion of a youth subculture in the United States is assumed to exist on the basis of shared values, standards, and goals, which, it is also assumed are not shared by adults (Canaan, 1987, pp. 385406). In actuality, this youth subculture exists more in the minds of researchers, and in the minds of advertisers, that it exists in fact among most young people in the United States.

variety of ways. One concept holds that it is influential people who help others, in a significant way, in reaching life goals. Within the framework of this concept, a mentor could be authority figures, supportive figures, organizational sponsors, career counselors, and patrons. This concept is particularly relevant with respect to the formation of youth subcultures (Canaan, 1987, pp. 385406).

(16,1) The notion of a youth culture was quite conclusively supported by empirical research carried out by Hollingshead, Gordon, and Coleman. What insights into student subcultures did their studies provide? What kind of changes in students' norms and values, if any, do you think would be revealed by subsequent studies?