The Challenges Of The American Dream By Chris Liska Carger's Of Borders And Dreams?

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There are many issues facing the education system. Some of the greatest challenges facing education and educators today are funding, lack of parental involvement, poverty, lack of resources, uncontrollable home situations, standardized testing, and even policymakers. The shocking and scary part is that these are literally just a few of the issues. Nonetheless, how often do we consider the issues that bicultural and bilingual students encounter every day as they strive towards the “American Dream”?
In this paper, I will provide a critical summary of the book Of Borders and Dreams: A Mexican-American Experience of Urban Education by Chris Liska Carger. I will highlight the main ideas and the evidence and stories used to support the central theme …show more content…

Carger explains that incompetency of teachers attempting to educate students who are limited-English proficient. “The problem… is educational systems which have not adapted successfully to such diversity, which have not looked into the face of such a child and seen beauty and potential, but function instead in a deficit finding mode” (Carger, 7). Carger reveals how society was reluctant in accepting and adapting the culture of Mexican immigrants, which left many to suffer. The suffering is not only seen in Alejandro’s academic challenges, but also in the obstacles of his family’s everyday life. “The Juarez family, which reflects the bronzed race that is Aztlan (decedents of Aztecs), had experienced persistent and abiding prejudice from employers, educators, and community members in general” (Carger, 11).
Of Borders and Dreams as a whole is a critique of the assimilation theory. Mexican immigrants have not been able to “incorporate in American life” as suggested in Omi and Winant. Carger recalls the difficulty Alma faced when she was outside Spanish speaking neighborhoods, racial profiling of Alejandro, inability to find well-paying jobs, and the inaccessibility to the Spanish language, all a resulting from a lack of

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