Probably above everything else, Americans consider themselves individuals。 There are strong family ties and strong loyalties to groups, but individuality and individual rights are most important。
   If this seems like a selfish attitude, it also leads Americans to an honest respect for other individuals and an insistence on human equality。
  

　　Related to this respect for individuality are American traits of independence and self-reliance。 From an early age, children are taught to stand on their own two feet, an idiom meaning to be independent。
   You may be surprised to learn that most U。S。
   students choose their own classes, select their own majors, follow their own careers, arrange their own marriages, and so on, instead of adhering to the wishes of their parents。