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The impacts of migration to rural and urban areas
The impacts of migration to rural and urban areas
Easy about rural urban migration
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Growing up as an adolescent, I was first introduced to the Spanish language. I was always told that my parents’ souls lied deep within the beautiful state of Durango, Mexico and that in turn, I would never amount to much. I come from a long line of uneducated individuals, my father discontinued his studies at the mere age of fourteen while my mother merely continued her studies until high school. This, in consequence, places me amongst the first-generation of students in my family to receive an education outside of Mexico. Finding a place to settle was not always something that came to us easily. My father had to work two jobs in order to put food on our table while my mother was forced to stay home and care for the children. Easily, the most
In Richard Rodriguez’s “Proofs,” Mexican immigrant’s destination is described, as well as their perceptions and expectations of America. Rodriguez describes the passage to the United States as difficult, yet worthy. He states: “The city will win. The city will give the children all the village could not- VCR’s, hairstyles, drum beat. The city sings mean songs, dirty songs. But the city will sing the children a great Protestant hymn.You can be anything you want to be.” He also states: “Mexico is poor. But mama says there
My mom is Panamanian and a very bright woman and loves school, while my dad is African American and didn’t care for school at all and isn't very educated. My mom first came to America to study at Vanderbilt University and my dad never went to college. When I was four my parents got a divorce and my mother maintained custody of me. In this day in time people would say that my odds are against me when it comes to becoming literate. Why? Well, I didn’t grow up in the best neighborhood. The area I was raised in was nicknamed "Little Mexico" because many illegal immigrants lived there. I quickly learned that most of the people around me didn’t know how to read or write and they only spoke Spanish. Imagine them living in an English speaking country. If they couldn’t read or write in their own language living in America must be pretty complicated. It would clearly seem like I wouldn't have much access to literacy sponsors at all. Literacy sponsors can be people, places, or even events that shape how a person reads and writes. Those same people, places, and events can play a big factor in a person's opinion about reading and writing as well. However, it was almost impossible for me not to have any literacy sponsors with my mom being in my
El Paso, Texas is a relatively large city with a small town attitude. It is one of those cities that grows on you. I embrace the laid back lifestyle and bi-cultural environment - it’s given me an opportunity to develop a unique bicultural identity that influences my motivation to succeed. Especially, being the daughter of an immigrant that upholds Mexican culture. The majority of the population is hispanic, which gave me the sense of mexican traditions that I would share with my family in Mexico. Growing up bilingual ironically provided me comfort in the community. Also, the efforts of the community are being made to modernize and improve the city.
In the book Borders and Dreams, Chris Carger shows the readers the hardships of Alejandro, a Spanish-American boy with very little educational background. In her case study of both Alejandro and his family she shows how the limitations of Alejandro, his parents, and an overpopulated school system can make succeeding in an American school nearly impossible. In this paper I will look at all the obstacles that Alejandro faced both before and during his education. Also, I will identify both the things that I felt were done right in his schooling and the things I felt were done wrong. To finish I will give some of the idea's I have that could possibly have helped Alejandro.
Williams, Norma. (2009). The Mexican American family: tradition and change. New York: General Hall. (Primary)
Throughout her education, her parents have always supported her. Unlike the Filipina American youth, in the article, “We Don’t’ Sleep Around Like White Girls Do,” who have limited freedom and higher expectations, Monica tells me that she is so grateful for her parents because they give her the freedom to do whatever she wants. She wants to do immigration law, not because her parents persuaded her, in fact, they tell her that if that is not what she want to do, then she should not do it. Her parents also approved for her to attend University of California, Irvine. Since she has lived in a little town almost all her life, she wanted to go far, explore, and experience a different environment, and UCI happened to be the farthest college from her home. Monica highlights that she wants to get her parents out their current situation. She pursues a higher education to receive a degree because that is the only thing she can do to help her parents. Monica’s parents are field workers. When I asked her why did she think she went as far as she did in school, she responds, “I always saw the struggle with my parents…I know what is like to live in Mexico…the hardships of coming here and the sacrifices my parents did for me.” Even though Monica was little when she lived in Mexico, she noticed the economic hardships her family has faced. Therefore, she feels the responsibility to pursue a higher education and provide her parents a better life. Monica demonstrates an example of a dual frame of reference because her motivation to improve is due to her experiences living in Mexico. When I asked her, if she ever wanted to go back to Mexico, she replied, “I would do it but to do something for the community…it bothers me how here [we are constantly upgrading] and you go over there and everything is the same.” According to Professor Feliciano, the concept of dual frame of reference is based on the individual’s
The importance put on education often comes from parental involvement. Many Latinos come to this country in hopes of giving the opportunity to their children to have more open more doors to success while enjoying freedom. The freedom that some possibly do not have at home. “A number of factors contribute to the translation of a family’s social capital to schools capital, including parental income and educational attainment, English language proficiency (ELP), parental beliefs and educational aspirations for their children, and parental involvement in schools (Zambrana 62).” The need to aspire is an individual motivation, however the family structure has much to do with the ambitions. The Latino community according to the book Latinos in American Society written by Ruth Zambrana ran a study on the Average SAT Scores for Twelfth Grade Test-Taking Population, by Race and Latino Subgroup, 1996-2006. In this study, it was found that the second-generation students that are of college-educated Latino families contributed the most to the rise in the total Latino student
Growing up, the biggest challenge I faced was being a first generation Latina student. My family came from an extremely rural neighborhood in Guanajuato, Mexico called La Sandia. Both my parents achieved up to 5th-grade education in their hometowns. They decided to sacrifice their lives in Mexico to provide a better life for their family and then decided to migrate to the U.S to achieve what many people consider the American dream.
When I was born, my family had just migrated to California from Mexico. In a new country, my father worked in landscaping earning less than $4 dollars an hour, while my mother relied on public transportation to take her newborn child to and from doctor visits. In the land of opportunity, my family struggled to put a roof over our heads. But never discouraged, my parents sought to achieve their goals and worked tirelessly to raise my younger brother and I. From a young age, I was taught the importance of education; this became a major catalyst in my life. My desire to excel academically was not for self-gain, but my way of contributing to my family’s goals and aspirations.
Have you ever been to Texas? I have been once. My trip to Texas was unbelievably awesome. I saw many of things on my way there. While we were there, I had loads of fun. Many things happened while we were there. Texas was the coolest place I have ever been.
Alarcón, W., Cruz, C., Jackson, L., Prieto, L., & Rodriguez-Arroyo, S. (2011). Compartiendo Nuestras Historias : Five Testimonios of Schooling and Survival. Journal Of Latinos & Education, 10(4), 369-381. doi:10.1080/15348431.2011.605690
Immigrants into the United States often perceive education as the principal method for their children to attain a better life than they have been able to provide for them. The immigrants have dreams and hopes of their children becoming successful and working in better conditions that they had to endure in order to survive. However for the children, accomplishing the immense dreams their parents set forth is not simple. While striving to obtain an education, the children face many cultural clashes that often pit their culture or family traditions and values against the education they are demanded to attain. This is an issue that is iterated in many texts by Latina writers through personal or fictional stories. In The Latin Deli by Judith Ortiz-Cofer,
My Dad came to America by himself at the age of thirteen from India, hoping to achieve the widely known American Dream. He wanted to do this for his family and to have a better future. The oldest of two brothers, my father had to work a couple of jobs at a very young age. He skipped school for two years in order to make ends meet. He then started school to get back on track. The thrive and effort he put into his studies and work demonstrates how hard he succeeded to get to where he is now. He got accepted to well known universities. His hardships and work ethics with dealing with the society in America is similar to the film Real Women Have Curves and the articles, “ The economic Reality of being Latino/a in America”, “Unequal Childhoods: Class,
When one thinks about Hispanics, all too often the image of a field full of migrant workers picking fruit or vegetables in the hot sun comes to mind. This has become the stereotypical picture of a people whose determination and character are as strong or stronger than that of the Polish, Jewish, Greek, or Italian who arrived in the United States in the early 1900's. Then, the center of the new beginning for each immigrant family was an education. An education was the "ladder by which the children of immigrants climbed out of poverty into the mainstream." (Calderon & Slavin, 2001, p. iv) That ideal has not changed, as the Hispanic population has grown in the United States to large numbers very quickly and with little fanfare. Now, the population of Hispanics in the United States has reached numbers that are finally drawing that attention of schools, state offices, the federal government, and the marketplace. As the new, largest minority, as well as the largest bilingual group, in the United States, Hispanics are finally being recognized as a group of people with the potential to greatly impact economic, social, and education reform. In this paper, several issues will be examined that relate to education: language barriers, poverty, cultural representation, and problem schools. Through an understanding of the Hispanic culture and the motivation behind the Hispanic population, the American education system will be able to overcome the natural hindrances of a diverse society.
In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldúa exposes her feelings about social and cultural difficulties that Mexican immigrants face when being raised in the United States. She establishes comparisons among English, Spanish and their variations and cultural influence on people’s “preference” to speak one language rather than the other. Anzaldúa uses ethos to effectively characterize her personal accounts of how the languages she spoke hindered her by presenting her evidence in a clear and credible manner by showing both sides of the argument because of the deep emotional connection she feels towards the use of both Spanish and English while talking when it isn’t the norm of the surrounding people.