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Changes in educational system short note
Changes in educational system short note
Changes in the education system
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Valenzuela utilizes various compilations of research to construct her exceptional argument regarding the issue of subtractive schooling with regards to 2nd generational immigrant students. She thoroughly analyzes and assesses the multitude of differences between 1st generation and 2nd generation students and their affinity for education. She divides the topic into 3 categories and asserts how each one adds to the issue of inadequate education for Mexican/Mexican-American students in the US public school system. Her research is conducted at Seguin (pseudonym) High School in Houston, Texas. She examines the effects of substandard education in regards to the students and their academic performance. She uses quantitative and qualitative research …show more content…
She describes it as “subtractive schooling,” a process in which students are left vulnerable to academic failure due to structural forces that impose on their ethnic identities and cultural backgrounds. The author explains that immigrants go through a dis-identification process, which seeks to Americanize them inadvertently forces minority status upon them. The division comes when their own ethnic identity of what it means to be Mexican to them is compromised. A prime example of this the use of linguistics and cultural practices. In the subtractive schooling process, all things Mexican or tied to the students’ identity is purposely diluted as is the use of the Spanish language. The concept of Mexicanidad becomes blurry as many Mexican/Mexican-American’s consider speaking Spanish as synonymous to what being Mexican is. In the subtractive schooling process, students are expected to know and speak English fluency, on the other hand in order to be considered truly Mexican they must also speak Spanish fluently. Many 2nd generational immigrants don’t fair as well as 1st generation because of the lack of bilingualism and biculturalism, skills that make the 1st generation more successful than the
In Bettie’s analysis of Mexican-American and white girls, she finds that race, gender and class are extremely crucial in the outcomes and futures of these girls. The unmentioned and hidden effects of class, race, and gender provide the explanation for much of the inequality seen between the white middle-class girls and Mexican-American working-class girls. Much of this inequality is itself perpetuated within the school system, both by the faculty and students.
Students were grouped by IQ, those who had an above average or higher were helped to go to college and those who had a low IQ’s were not given the support or the push needed to get them into college. Educators allowed low education standards and refused to see students as equals. The advisors set students sights low for the future by encouraging how service jobs were a practical choice for us Mexicans. Cleaning houses were the normal thing to do for Mexican-American females. Students were tired of the inadequate staff and the staff's lack of concern for their students. The students sent out a survey among the other students to see if they were satisfied with what they were getting from their education. The result was that the schools and instructors were not meeting the needs of the students’ more so of the Chicano students.
A large number of people in the Hispanic community whether Hispanics are not able to get the English literacy skills that they need not because they want to keep born in Latin America or the United States, speak Spanish primarily. This is basically because in present day time, Hispanics are more likely to pass Spanish to their kids now than they have done in the past. (Ortiz, P.149) This is seen as a social problem, especially because of the fact that there is an increasing demand that English should only be taught in public school and it should also be spoken within the Spanish community. Even though Hispanics do speak a lot of Spanish most of the time, they still do learn English also, especially the young. But, because of the large flow of immigrants, the use of Spanish is used more often because they are constantly encountering immigrants who speak no English. (Ortiz, P. 150) Before hand there has been said to have been lower achievements when Hispanics make frequent use of the Spanish la...
Education is the key to individual opportunity, the strength of our economy, and the vitality of our democracy. In the 21st century, this nation cannot afford to leave anyone behind. While the academic achievement and educational attainment of Hispanic Americans has been moving in the right direction, untenable gaps still exist between Hispanic students and their counterparts in the areas of early childhood education, learning English, academic achievement, and high school and college completion.
Orellana, M. F. (2001). The work kids do: Mexican and Central American immigrant children’s contributions to households and schools in California. Harvard Educational Review, 71(3), 366-389.
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
It is apparent to everyone living in the United States, that we are the most diverse country in the world. Everywhere we go we encounter people of different backgrounds. However, it is also apparent that one race in particular is seen more than others. One of the fastest growing races in the United States in today’s day and age is the Hispanic one. Research has shown that Hispanics are among the fastest growing cultures in our country. This is obvious to just about everyone in the United States. As a Hispanic woman living in the U.S., it has come to my attention that along with being the fastest growing culture, we are also the culture with some of the highest high school dropout rates. This has become a major problem in our country and more predominately in states such as: California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is crucial now more than ever that as the Hispanic population increases in the United States; we educate the children growing up in our country. However, as stated before, it is apparent that Hispanics have had the greatest numbers of high school dropouts. While not many people think of it to be so, the dropout rates among young Hispanic adults is one of the biggest problems our community faces. If there is nothing done about this problem, our entire country will suffer in many ways. Therefor, we must come up with some solutions to lower these dropout rates before it is too late. A few solutions that have surfaced are; programs in schools to prevent dropouts, educating parents about what an education will do for their children, and making a change in what is being taught in schools.
Beth Johnson’s “The Professor is a Dropout” recounts the story of Guadalupe Quintanilla, a Mexican-American immigrant who moved to America with her grandparents at the age of 12. There she was enrolled in school where she had to take an IQ test that was entirely in English. Not knowing the language, she did poorly. She was labeled ‘Retarded’ and put into the first grade, forced to learn with children half her age. After a humiliating incident involving her being scolded for speaking in her native language, Lupe dropped out of school and instead helped out her Grandparents around the house, continuing to read and learn in Spanish at home. At 16, she married, and in five years’ time had three children. When her children started school they
The persona that Richard uses in this essay is that of a native Latino child who immigrated to America. Richard argues that it would not be beneficial to children’s learning because he was taught that “I had the right-and the obligation-to speak the public language” (The Northern Reader, Rodriguez pg. 286). Learning and using the public language was viewed as socially acceptable and that other languages were seen private.
Garcia and Garcia (2012) point out that research from the 1960’s has found that the Hispanic achievement is lower than the achievement of Whites in all or most socio-economic levels across the K-12 school years. Furthermore, Garcia and Garcia (2012) report that the within-class gaps are larger at the high socio-economic levels than at the low socio-economic
Current studies suggest that intergenerational relationships (Umberson, 2002) are gradually becoming more important to Mexican - Americans (Swartz, 2009). Mexicans enjoy the intergenerational growth between first-generation immigrants and their second-generation children (Duncan & Trejo, 2011). Next of kin to their parents, the U.S.-born second generation experiences remarkable increases in English skills, educational accomplishment, and income and prefer to speak English rather than Spanish, and by the third generation most Mexican Americans no longer speak Spanish at all. (Duncan & Trejo, 2011).
With so many Latin American people immigrating to the United States, Mexican and other Latin American cultures have undoubtingly had a profound effect on American culture as a whole. From common foods such as Taco Bell’s found in nearly every U.S. city to some of America’s most popular celebrities including Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, George Lopez, and Selena Gomez, Latin American culture has had an immense impact and continues to play a huge role in American culture. Education is also evolving to fit the large numbers of Latin American- large numbers of which are coming from Mexico- immigrants that are coming to the United States. According to Valdeón (2012) Most public schools offer, some even requiring, students to take a Spanish class (Valdeón, 2012, p.314, para 4). In many schools, children begin learning the Spanish language and parts of the Hispanic culture in as early as first grade classes. This prepares children for the Spanish classes that they will most likely take in middle school and high school that will prepare them for the increasing demand for the need to know both English and Spanish in today’s
On March 20th, 2018 Dr. Adam Glover, a Professor of Spanish, moderated a student panel called “Life on the Hyphen – Living Between Two Cultures.” As the name suggests, this panel was about three Spanish and Mexican students discussing what growing up in two cultures is like. This panel heavily ties into the common book “Spare Parts” by Joshua Davis. The students on the panel explained the difficulties Spanish speaking students face in the American school system. Every time the native Spanish speaking students come to school they had to do a reset on their brain. They must completely switch their brain from Spanish to English. For one of the students, just like the characters in the book, this made her grades suffer in her early years of school.
For instance, schools in California require proof of residency, but proof may misrepresent realities. As a result, classes in Calexico public schools are, as one school official said, “overpopulated, meaning large class sizes and crowded classrooms are the norm” (Campus, 2013). Also, with the passage of proposition 227 in California that bans bilingual education throughout the state, has caused serious issues for not only Mexican migrant students but other immigrants. In addition, if a public school violates Proposition 227, it will lose state funding. As a result, several teachers from Calexico Unified School District have seen the horrible effects of the passing of Proposition 227. From their observation of children “they noticed that limited-English students fell quite a bit behind just during the first 30 days into the new curriculum” (Collins, 2014). In other words, Mexican migrant students and other immigrants within a month were robbed of productive schoolwork and quality
Brittny Mejia, author of the article, “ 'You need to speak English': Encounters in viral videos show Spanish is still polarizing in the U.S.” explores the current contradictory impulses that the Spanish language has brought to America. Mejia describes how a young girl was shunned for having spoken to her mother in Spanish while out in public. Her family had been told that since they live in America, they should be speaking English (Mejia). The family ignored the warning and continued using both Spanish and English. In the past, people were scorned for speaking multiple languages, but ironically now, parents want their kids to be bilingual. There are countless families that “enroll their children in bilingual charter schools” in order to learn Spanish specifically to have the advantage in the job market (Mejia). Children are taught that being bilingual is an extraordinary trait and is something that they should take advantage of by making it their second tongue. Language continues to evolve with our culture and grow with our children and can be very surprising or even confusing when different generations learn exactly how much language has shifted in the relatively short amount of time between age