A Small View on American Cultule

     Here I want to share an experience a week ago. 

     I entered a farm house along with my friends, and there weren't many smelly feces, instead, the path was very clean, so were the animals.  In this large house, there were three paths, which divided the house into four parts. I heard deep voice from the end of the path. The ‘‘mou mou’’ sound came from cows. The farm animals here had their own space and they were limited either by the cages，like rabbits and chicken, or tied by the strings. Each animal had a card hanging above them, which wrote the place of the prize , the name and the project. What was that? I was really curious about it. 

   Just as my friends and I turned back into a new way, a boy came into my sight. The yellow T-shirt he wore was very eye appealing. He was in a pair of blue jeans and the boots on his feet caught my attention most. I really like the way his jeans and shoes match. In fact, most of the children here worn similar pattern. Yes, there were many children. What did they do here? Were there anything related to the animals and the children ?   I asked the boy this question .At that time, he was catching one cook from the cage and then put the cook on his shoulder immediately. He was very skillful. Then he turned to me ,with  his right arm raising in order not to have the cook falling down, and then explained to me:   "We are taking our animals here to take part in the contest, and the card you saw wrote the prize each of our animal won, and you can also know the animals’ and its owners' name on it. Look, these four animals are all mine. They got good prizes in the context held two days ago." His face was shining with proud smile, and he acted himself as a strong man, which he called the Chicken Master! 

  He warmly invited us to touch his friend, the cook. How soft its feather is! I have never touched something as soft as this! Then the boy invited us to take photos for him and his friend.   Actually , from what he said, I came to realize that the children here regard the animals they raise as friends. They put their friends' need before themselves. The children who came here with their animal friends are from the farm, and they keep the animals by themselves. What their parents do is just to help them if necessary. What's more, every county has their own animal farm fair, and they are held at a regular time. When the fair is held, the children who live in the farm of the county will bring their animals to take corresponding contest, and they can decide whether to sell their animals or take them home.    The children here were almost at the age of 7 to 10. Mentioning the friends they kept, they all very glad and proud to introduce them, from its age, name, to its characteristic and whether it was happy or not at this time. Through the conversations , I found a truth that they knew much on the knowledge of the animals than I have learnt from the books. It is really a good way to learn and more important, they know more about how a farm animal is raised and through the contact with animals, they also learn it is not easy for farmers to keep animals and then they are more likely to give more love and care to the animals many people may not even pay much attention to, like myself.   I think it reflects one of the aspects that American parents educate their children .Parents don't teach children through the books or hand-by-hand teaching, they just let their children try, get knowledge through their own way and do some key guidance if necessary. It is much more a self-learning and self-exploring way than to be taught directly and passively. It is a reflection of the education in America, which is quite different from China. In China, unless a child has to keep the animals for his family and the aim of doing so is for making money to make the family survive, the parents wouldn't let their child keep farm animals, many of whom think it is a waste of time to do so, and the child are supposed to study hard at school. From this farm visiting experience, I really felt the effective and interesting way American parents nature their children, and the similar case goes with teachers.    In my opinion, it is an aspect of American culture. It is a culture that related to free development and self-development.