Acculturation Among Immigrants

1849 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Academic success and social class

Acculturation is a multidimensional and continuous process of adjustment and adaption following sustained contact (direct or indirect) between different cultures. Adjustment and adaptation can involve cultural learning, maintenance, integration (biculturalism), fusion or synthesis and cultural loss or shedding of cultural behaviors, values, cognitions, attitudes, beliefs, customs, traditions, and identities. Acculturation occurs at different levels (group & individual) and speeds, and is affected by internal (personal traits) and external (environmental/social) factors contributing to varied psychological and social outcomes. With acculturation being a part of an immigrant’s daily life, it is inevitable that this process interferes and has …show more content…

This ethnic minority group remains to be undereducated when compared to the general population due to the lack of their educational attainment. With this, it is important to analyze and understand why education is something that is not easily being achieved by this minority group. Although there are many factors, which contribute to the lack of educational attainment and achievement, this study emphasizes the relationship between acculturation among teens of Mexican descent and their college-related planning behaviors. In this study, 410 Mexican American and Euro-American juniors and seniors in high school participated to examine the associations between college planning and college attendance, and the role of parental education and family income in this process (Hurtado & Gauvain, 1997). The mean age of the sample was 16.7 years old. The participants used the college planning survey and the ARSMA in order to fully encompass their process of engaging in both their acculturation process and education involvement. In order to fully see how acculturation was related to college aspirations and planning behaviors for Latinos, they were given an acculturation scale and a college-planning survey. The subjects were then requested to follow-up 10 months post completing the survey in order to see the progress that was made. 116 senior high school students participated in an additional survey by mail or telephone, which assessed if they had entered college and what resources helped them to reach their set goal. The results indicated that acculturation among Mexican American youth was not related to either wanting to go to college or engaging in practical actions to get there. Moreover, acculturation was highly correlated with one’s actual college attendance among Mexican American

Show More
Related

  • Coculturation Acculturation

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    276). Curtin’s Coculturation (2010) combats this hegemonic discourse by stating, “everyone is continually engaged in social and political processes of identification” (p. 283). Thus, one’s identity can consist of multiple cultures and they can in fact coincide. The idea that one group “belongs” in a particular imagined community is a myth, there is no single response or adaption. The theory of Coculturation ultimately accommodates to a more realistic approach to cultural adjustment where a newcomer can adopt some behavior of the host culture while still maintaining the conciliatory and subconscious aspects of their native

    Read More

  • Three Miles In This American Life

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    In my community, El Sereno, college is viewed as an option as opposed to it being the next step in life. Most people in my area either begin working or start a family after they graduate from high school. Not always by choice, but in some cases by circumstance. Students in my neighborhood either lack the knowledge, financial support, guidance or even legal status that would otherwise drive them to apply or even go to college. About eighty-percent of students graduated from my high school, but only about twenty-percent ended up attending a four-year university (NINCHE). One of the biggest reasons for student’s low college entrance rate has to deal with their family's socioeconomic

    Read More

  • The Struggles of Undocumented Students

    2158 Words  | 5 Pages

    If we talk about undocumented immigrants in United States, we usually focus on the benefits and jobs they take from our country, but have we ever stood in their shoes and imagine what life is like for an illegal immigrant? To live as an undocumented immigrant is a bad situation, but I believe to be a child of an undocumented immigrant is even worse, because their choices are limited and they are unaware of their rights to attend colleges. In this research, I will focus on undocumented immigrant students, who are unable to afford for higher education, and the fear of their unknown future which is mainly cause by their undocumented status. The largest invisible group in America, to explore “what are the struggles and unsolved problems of undocumented students?”

    Read More

  • Latino Students in American Colleges

    3115 Words  | 7 Pages

    Educators, parents, policy makers, and institutional leaders all play a vital role in the advocacy of Latino/a students on their journey towards higher education. Access to information on how to attain higher education and practices needed to plan for the next steps, are necessary in preparing for the future. As the Latina/o population continues to grow in the United States, it is important to understand what their educational outlook is in regards to higher learning. This literature review will examine the roadblocks facing Latina/o students, including, parent involvement and understanding, family influence, preparation programs, and school support, and explore ways in which educators can work towards making college access a more frequent reality for Latina/o students. Parent Involvement and Understanding To begin to understand why Latina/o students find themselves significantly behind their Caucasian peers in college access, we must first look to the home and examine the relationship the parents of this population of students have with higher education.

    Read More

  • Cognitive Problems of Immigrant Students

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    What academic struggles will happen to immigrant students? What kind of thoughts will be brought up? In The Happiness Hypothesis, Johnathan Haidt talks about negative bias in “Changing Your Mind”. This chapter is the best to describe the situation of the immigrant students. According to Kim and Diaz in "Immigrant Students And Community Colleges”, they state that “immigrant students who attend community colleges tend to have lower socioeconomic status and limited English knowledge compared to those who attend four-year institutions.”

    Read More

  • Health Care for Migrant Farm Workers

    2444 Words  | 5 Pages

    Salinas, C. (2004). "Creating Successful Academic Programs for Chicana/o High School Migrant Students: The Role of Advocate Educators." The High School Journal 87(4): 54-65.

    Read More

  • Latino Community Essay

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Assimilation into the United States

    1819 Words  | 4 Pages

    Immigrants leave their countries in search for a better life and improvement of their situation. There is no singular reason for immigration; motivations range from better economic prospects to political safety. As of late, the number of immigrants living in the United States is an estimated 11 million. Those who immigrate are expected to contribute to the United States culturally, politically, and economically. Yet, full assimilation becomes difficult to achieve when the immigrant is made into “the other” by the country of reception.

    Read More

  • Four Stages of Culture Shock Faced By Immigrants

    1688 Words  | 4 Pages

    A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective Function Phase. These phases denote some of the stages that exemplify culture shock. The four phases are illustrated in the articles “New Immigrants: Portraits in Passage” by Thomas Bentz, “Immigrant America: A Portrait” by Alejandro Portes and Ruben G. Rumbaut, “When I Was Puerto Rican” by Esmeralda Santiago, “Today’s Immigrants, Their Stories” by Thomas Kessner and Betty Boyd Caroli, and lastly, “The New Americans: Immigrant Life in Southern California” by Ulli Steltzer, and are about the experiences of some immigrants. This essay will examine the four phases of culture shock and classify the experiences of these immigrants by the different phases of culture shock identified.

    Read More

  • Educating Hispanic Students

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Critical Race Theory And Labeling Theory Essay

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Latino immigrants in the U.S. tend to have the highest dropout rates within the school system. Though, the aggregate statistics goes beyond students’ poor performance, there are many factors that can influence students to make the choice to quit school; for this essay, I will use Critical Race Theory and labeling theory to help me deconstruct the reasons behind this phenomenon, using example 1 of section I.

    Read More

  • WHY IMMIGRANT STUDENTS PURSUING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES DO FACES MORE DIFFICULTIES THAN REGULAR CITIZENS?

    1502 Words  | 4 Pages

    The findings and recommendations point to the conclusion that social and structural support for immigrant students should be embedded in curricula where appropriate and systematically included in school and university processes starting before the school experience, continuing through the university and extending up to higher level of education from it.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Undocumented Students

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Each year, an estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school. Many of these students dream to pursue higher education, but they face significant hurdles due to their lacog legal status” (Malik). Undocumented students are struggling to maintain a higher education when they graduate from high school in the Unites States. But with the help of DACA, an immigration program, it makes them to have a better life and to achieve their goals by staying in the United States. As the population of undocumented students increase, students are struggling to have financial aid and other things that are related to college.

    Read More

  • Real Latino Students Gaining Higher Education

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is no longer the case, however, for many first generation Latinos who now have access to federal loans or scholarship opportunities. Slowly but surely, the access to financial and educational resources is improving in Latino communities. Since its inception, 83% of the 65% of DACA recipients who are in school are currently pursuing their Bachelors degree. However, there are still struggles experienced by the community at

    Read More

  • Acculturation Of Refugee Teenagers

    1531 Words  | 4 Pages

    Acculturation is defined as a process that occurs when newly arrived individuals meet the host society (Khawaja et al., 2014). Research has shown that the experience of acculturation can cause many stresses for people. Individuals are faced with an identity crisis when they are working to find their new role in society. Furthermore, the stress that comes with converging two different cultures can challenge an individual's ability to adapt to their new environment (2014). When a person makes a change from their culture to a new host society, it can be unfamiliar and create unique challenges for that individual (Ward et al.,

    Read More

More about Acculturation Among Immigrants

Open Document