Throughout American history, many of different cultures and ethnic groups have been entering and settling down in many different states. As the centuries pass, we can honestly say that America is truly a country that’s made of immigrants. If we compare immigrants today, and immigrants before 1970’s we can see a clear difference when it comes to the treatment of people who come into America. In today's times immigrants are supported (even by other Americans), but still with all the support that they receive today, many of immigrants are still unhappy with the treatment and their culture not being acknowledged in America. When it comes to anyone’s child, a parent wants a child to learn and receive the best education possible and since America …show more content…
But many people, including parents, are against this idea for many different reasons such as prejudices issues and some even feel as this might take away from their learning. In the case study “The Chameleon” they talk about the issues that come to the topic of teaching bilingual and multicultural education in public schools. In the text, it stated that the issue began to get heated when on an October night the issue of bilingual education was bought up and a debate occurred because people were talking about the success and purpose of multicultural education. The real reason this meeting was scheduled was because prior to that, many of the students have already complained that other teachers and school administrators of prejudice and discrimination acts. A teacher named Jane Myers stated that in her 7 years, she has never experienced such heated debate. The school’s administrator Ms. Myers was able to get John Gray to hold a meeting in the auditorium. That morning Ms. Myers invited more than 500 students and told them that a speaker is coming to discuss the …show more content…
I think it was a great idea for Ms. Myers to invite John Gray to speak in front of the school and tackle the issue of racism and settle down people’s prejudice thoughts. His strategy to handle the issue was an intelligent one, because instead of him talking the whole time he allowed the students to share their thoughts and ideas by expressing the seriousness of being silent. In so many words he basically said that if you stay silent nothing will change. But what really got the students going was when Mr. gray asked the boy who stated that you can’t get away with calling me prejudice if he was Jewish and since he is a good Christian and Jews believe in a god besides Jesus that they should go back to Israel. That was a good idea because negative people usually act in negativity when they see someone else acting in the same negative way. One student bought up that woman can never hold positions of authority and power because are more emotional than men (in which is very false). I remember when I was working at this supermarket and we had this manager who was a man and almost every day something went wrong, but when they finally fired him and hired a woman instead the store improved a lot, and should I add she was nice
Immigration is a large aspect of American history. In the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, we are able to see the struggles of one Hispanic boy immigrating to the United States from Mexico. Many of the people in the community that Francisco lived in didn’t really accept Hispanic people. It was really depressing that he would make friends, go over to their house and their parents wouldn’t let him come over again, simply because he was Hispanic. In Diversity Matters the text states, “Unique stresses created by the process of immigration to another country and discrimination faced in the new country can create psychological distress for many immigrants” (Spradlin 126). During this time in America, there was still a lot of discrimination going on not only with Hispanics, but other minority races like African Americans. This really goes to show how far our country has come over the years. There is still a long way to go, but I think that if people are more educated and aware of the discrimination people face on a daily basis they will be more open-minded. The United States is becoming more open to diversity, but first we will look at the struggles of one Hispanic boy growing up here illegally in Breaking Through.
Bilingual education offers a completely different world for students of different ethnic background and thus creates a comfort zone limiting the risk-taking factor necessary for the maturation of a child to an adult. Rodriguez argues supporters of bilingualism fail to realize "while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality" (Rodriguez 26). He explains that the imperative "radical self-reformation" required by education is lost by offering bilingual education and such a program suggests a place where the need for a sense of public identity disappears. A bilingual program gives a student the opportunity to be separated from real life and institutes a life that leaves out an essential understanding of the world. Bilingual students do not know the complexities of their world, including emotion, ethics, and logic, because the bilingual program secludes the eager minds to a much simpler, more naïve idea of how the society works, leaving out the confidence of belonging in public. This situation not only limits the education experience for non-English speaking students, but also hinders the further education of English speaking students by erecting a communicat...
Balderrama represents a caring teacher that found herself not understanding the difference between English and Spanish because she grew in California. This allowed her to effect pedagogical accommodations to the Latinos ass a teacher. However, she agrees that xenophobia is rife and hard to be eliminated within the society. The minority and new migrants within the society face numerous challenges ranging from culture shock to acclimatizing to the new environment and bilingualism and biliteracy would enhance their learning experiences. According to Colin Baker bilingualism and biliteracy indeed influences critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. Therefore, the importance of teachers is promoting biliteracy and bilingualism cannot be understated because it is the backbone of effective learning through integrating a minority group into the majority group. The majority need to learn the language to enhance their understanding that is the importance towards achieving critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. Additionally, realizing that bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodates the language spoken by the other community helps in promoting biliteracy. Therefore, the
Immigration has always and will always be an essential part of America’s demographic and cultural diversity. Our country was founded on the immigration of Europeans to the New World; without them our nation would not be as advanced as it is today. Over the past three centuries, America’s immigration policies have evolved, both positively and negatively. Although we are moving forward, several episodes in our country’s immigration policy have targeted and attacked certain ethnic or cultural groups. Throughout America there is disparity regarding attitudes toward immigrants. Policies fluctuate throughout the entire country, different states, and even major cities. As the United States moves forth, it is vital that we remember how crucial immigrants
Recently in 2013 it has declined to about 295,000, this makes up eight percent of the 3.9 million U.S births that year according to Pew Research Center. In other words, almost one out of ten childbirths is children of illegal immigrants. Illegal Mexican immigrants, which make up 49 percent, have on average 3.5 children in the United States compared to 2.4 children in Mexico. (Camarota) These statistics suggest that illegals move to the U.S. just to have multiple kids. Public schools are crowded around the country. Why should a child from a native family be denied better schooling because it’s full due to anchor babies? America’s children should come first. Some excellent schools and classrooms around the country have the max amount of students. If an anchor baby is signed up first, they will get the slot, while our native students will be left to go to a mediocre
...Teaching acceptance and diversity of different ethnicity is one of the key components that can be taught in our school systems today. Here in America we have many different ethnic groups and races, we are one big melting pot. During school these differences should be embraced in a positive manner and a proper learning experience. Diversity is often mistaken for the word division, and sometimes people teach that diversity is division. Diversity should be taught in a way that brings people together, not divide people into groups. Like Konig said, “I hadn’t really given much thought to the ethnic and national backgrounds of Sarah’s classmates. I can guarantee that Sarah, being two and a half gave the subject absolutely no thought.” (51) We can take a few lessons from Konigs daughter and learn to not give the subject any thought, and just accept people for who they are.
Immigrants have been threw out history and still follow today. In the past decades immigrants have had many hardships especially undocumented immigrants. The majority of the immigrants in the United States are undocumented immigrants. Before the the late 1800s there was no federal laws that regulated immigration. In that century immigrants were growing in population and were in need of a job. If an immigrant was suspected of being a dangerous criminal the government would step in and deport that person. The first federal law to restrict immigration was formed in 1882 called The Chinese Exclusion Act. This act made a passageway for more immigration restrictions on particular groups of people. The act would later be repealed in 1943 because it was discriminatory. In the beginning of the 20th century a Quota act was passed to regulate immigration more precisely by country. By the 1920s the population was made up of 13% foreign born. In 1940s the Bracero program was established for millions of Mexican farmworkers to come to the U.S to work in agriculture. The program was meant to give mexican immigrants a chance to work and be able to go back to their homeland, but instead they were being abused and not getting good wages for their work. Today in the 21st century not much has been done to help immigrants. For instance, Arizona CA was trying to pass a law that was called SB 1070 which stated if a police officer suspect of a driver being an undocumented immigrant based on skin color the officer would be able to stop and possibly deport that person. Fortunately SB 1070 was not passed as a law. Our former president Barack Obama has been able to do little for immigrants. Millions of immigrants have been deported under Obama's presidency more than any other president. He has passed some things that help like the DACA which helps young
We don’t realize how hard it is for immigrant parents to get their children education, and we judge and hate on something we have never been through. I guess it’s true you never know someone’s pain unless you go through it. Not everyone has the same privileges as others, some have to work twice as hard to try to give their children an opportunity towards an education on the contrary some American families have it simpler. I not blaming people who have families who were born here or say it’s wrong, but many people tend to affront children of immigrant parents and feel like they have the equitableness to say they aren’t suitable to receive public education.
Immigrants have always been an important part of United States’ population. Each year, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants, from all around the world, including legal and illegal, come into the United States for job opportunities, new life, or the American Dream. “Immigrants have contributed significantly to the development of the United States. During the Lincoln administration, immigrants were actually encouraged to come to America, as they were considered valuable to the development of the country.” (Soylu & Buchanan, 2013). They believe that the US will give them more freedom, protection, and opportunities, which sometimes it becomes the major issues for immigrants. That’s why “the U.S. population is becoming more racially and
While people immigrating to the United States are often searching for better economic situations or to be reunited with family members, they are instead thrown into a system that has had a history of retaliating against them for searching for a better life. The United States has always had a difficult relationship with immigration, both needing it to promote growth in economic and demographic spheres while also using it as an easy scapegoat for many of the country’s problems. Once within the U.S. borders, immigrants are expected to conform, or assimilate, to the country’s standards and ideals, which also includes adapting to the racialized system that controls much of the politics and day to day life of American citizens. Suddenly, immigrants
Over the last couple of weeks, all of the readings, lectures, discussions and videos have been very informative. A lot of the information in the readings are what people experience daily or witness with their own eyes. The issues going on with class, gender, and race can be upsetting and hard to grasp because the reality of the matter is we live in a very segregated and divided society. Topics in the lecture that stood out were racial inequality and social movement. When it comes to racial inequality, I witnessed a similar situation while in undergraduate school. A professor at my school displayed hidden racial misconduct towards a black female student in a course.
Today, in most cases, people don’t spend very much time thinking about why the society we live in presently, is the way it is. Most people would actually be surprised about all that has happened throughout America’s history. Many factors have influenced America and it’s society today, but one of the most profound ways was the way the “Old Immigrants” and “New Immigrants” came to America in the early to mid 1800s. The “Old Immigrants were categorized as the ones who came before 1860 and the “New Immigrants” being the ones who came between 1865 and 1920. The immigrants came to the United States, not only seeking freedom, but also education. Many immigrants also wanted to practice their religion without hindrance. What happened after the immigrants
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
In our educational system we have students that come from all around the world, but according to figure 3.1 on page 89 throughout years the Hispanic population has increased. Because of the increase of non-english speakers in our educational system, I believe that future teachers must prepare with ideas and ways to teach these students English and make them feel welcomed. I, being bilingual could not personally explain how it was like to be ignorant of the English language because i started school at the age of four and my parents said i learned the language in three months. I believe that being bilingual is very prestigious because it is an opportunity for better understanding of the non-English speaking community and better pay. Throughout the years i have heard that knowing a second language and speaking it is considered unpatriotic. I completely disagree with this assumption because students who come from other countries will grow up like i did loving this country more than their native country because that is what the educational system teaches you. In Addition, the philosophies mentioned in the book really impacted me. I was amazed on the variety of philosophies a teacher has the ability to choose from to instruct their course. Using a variety of philosophies in a class is a great way to teach every student because it is evident that each person learns in different
America, a country built on immigration dating back to the early 1600s Mayflower voyage, continues to thrive as a melting pot full of various cultures and ethnics. In the past, many immigrants came to America due to the offered freedoms and equality, yet today, many naturalized citizens suffer with injustices, including with educational practices. The use of bilingual education, which is teaching students in both English and their native language, has become a controversial topic. In 1968, the Bilingual Education Act, which recognized and offered education to students who were lacking English, was passed, yet the topic still seems questionable to some. Bilingual education provides a variety of beneficial attributes to equally help foreigners