Question

“That you want us to call him Nikhil.”

“That is correct.”

Mrs. Lapidus nods. “The reason being?”

“That is our wish.”

“I’m not sure I follow you, Mr. Ganguli. Do you mean that Nikhil is a middle name? Or a nickname? Many of the children go by nicknames here. On this form there is a space—”

“No, no, it’s not a middle name,” Ashoke says. He is beginning to lose patience. “He has no middle name. No nickname. The boy’s good name, his school name, is Nikhil.”

Mrs. Lapidus presses her lips together and smiles. “But clearly he doesn’t respond.”

“Please, Mrs. Lapidus,” Ashoke says. “It is very common for a child to be confused at first. Please give it some time. I assure you he will grow accustomed.”

What central idea of the passage is established in this excerpt?
Globalization allows immigrant families to easily adjust to the values and institutions of their new cultures and countries.
Globalization is a current trend that will not succeed because immigrant families will be unable to adjust to unfamiliar customs.
Globalization does not affect the way that immigrant families choose to practice their beliefs and traditions.
Globalization can cause confusion and discomfort as people adjust to different, often conflicting, cultural values and expectations.

Answer 1

The correct answer is “Globalization can cause confusion and discomfort as people adjust to different, often conflicting, cultural values and expectations.”

Indeed, the excerpt shows that Globalization causes confusion both for the host society and the immigrants. In this situation, the teacher lacks the cultural contextual information to understand that this Bengalese family is referring to their custom of having a school name for students. She is asking probing questions to try to understand if this is a middle name or a nickname.

The Bengalese parents seem to either lack the humility or the patience to explain exactly why they mean and provide her with the context she needs to understand their request. Another possibility is that they lack the education or linguistic tools to properly explain this.

Incomprehension goes both ways, had they been able or willing to explain this, the teacher would have been able to explain to them that their child can use a second school name in a personal context and have his friends and other students refer to him by such name but that with regards to academic records, American laws prohibit such practices as these records must match the exact legal identity of the student.