Cultural Differences

After his move to Boston, Alberto realized how much his old and new communities differed in terms of diversity. He says, “Since the US is so much more diverse than Puerto Rico, there’s more of a family feel in Puerto Rico. Everybody can be friends with one another, and everyone can call each other brothers”. Alberto remembers referring to any single one of his friends as "hermano", meaning brother.

Here in the US, there are people of many cultures and backgrounds, which is a harsh contrast to Puerto Rican society. There, Alberto says, "Everyone’s the same. Everyone’s Catholic. Everyone’s Puerto Rican. Everyone likes the same things. It’s a very monotone culture".

Alberto says with little diversity, there’s a lot more cultural connection, yet that connection can create a sense of monotony: "You don’t learn about other stuff, like religions. I didn’t know anything about Jewish people. There were no Jewish people in Puerto Rico. Then I moved here, where there’s a very high Jewish population, and I was like 'wow!', there are so many different people and so many different stories to learn about, which was very interesting and eye-opening”.

Another cultural aspect that changed drastically for Alberto was his schooling system. Alberto says, "the Puerto Rican government doesn't fund public schools as much as it should. They aren't well kept and the students there place little value on education". What this means is that many children in Puerto Rico, if they want a quality education, are forced to pay expensive tuition for private schooling.

Whereas here in the US, specifically Massachusetts, public schooling provides students with a top-notch education for free. Alberto has a unique perspective on the education system which has made him and his family immensely grateful for the free, high-quality, public education.