What are some instances where Americans demonstrate social/ cultural norms?

Question

I am teaching my after school class the differences between cultural norms and was looking for different observations.

Answer 1

Sorry Kat, we wave at each other in the North also. The north and the south are not that much different.  The best contrast are found between people of different counties not American from the north and those from the south.

For instance American use direct eye contact where as a sign of respect Asians avoid it.

Answer 2

One nice way to do this might be to consider some of the norms for your region and contrast them with other areas of the country.  If you follow that with the same sort of comparison, only this time contrasting the US with some other nation, it will be pretty clear I think.  For example, I live in the south... a cultural norm for this area is to wave at other drivers as we pass.  If a person were to engage in this behavior in the northern US, it would be deemed strange at the very least.  After using some example of this type, then you could talk about cultural norms such as male circumcision vs. female circumcision in places like Senegal or Somalia.