Introduction
Nowadays, it has been observed in several countries that immigrant students do not have an equivalent school performance with their native classmates (Pisa, 2003). This essay is concerning the different school performance of the immigrant and Pontic Greeks students in Greece. The first section of this essay is about the immigration to Greece, and it explores the reasons of the increasing immigration to Greece, the second explores the attitudes of Greeks towards immigration, whereas the next section highlights the racism and xenophobia in Greece’s society. Section four is about the ethnocentric school curriculum in this country, whereas, the next section is about, the differnces of the socioeconomic status and cultural capital towards these two groups of immigrants. Finally, the next two sections are about the intercultural education in Greece and its problems.
Immigration to Greece
Before we go into the procedure of analysis of our topic it is obvious that we should explore the fact of immigration to Greece. The first decades after World War II, a lot of Greeks left their country and they immigrated in many countries such as USA, Canada, Germany and Australia which were more economically developed, because the rates of unemployment and poverty in Greece were extremely high (Katsikas & Politou, 2005), however, Greece nowadays has become a country where many immigrants from different countries arrive, hoping that Greece will offer them the opportunities to have a better life (Triantafyllidoy & Veikou, 2002). The Mediterranean countries have become a magnet for many immigrants replacing the traditional immigration countries like Germany and France (Brenner & Fertig, 2006). Moreover, immigrants in Greece exce...
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...t media, social problems and Greece’s immigrations policy promote the racist attitudes towards immigrants (Hatziprokopiou, 2005).
It is obvious, that the reproduction of the racist beliefs and stereotypes have an effect on school performance. As we have mentioned before, a better reception is granted to Pontic Greeks due to their ‘Greekness’(Triantafyllidoy & Veikou, 2002), as a result, Pontic Greeks students do not have to face racist stereotypes in education, this issue, help us to understand that they have more chances to have a better school performance than the other immigrant students. Of course, Greece’s homogeneity and racist attitudes towards immigrants, are not the only reasons which have an effect on school performance, the next section is about another important reason which guides the differences in school performance, this is the school curriculum.
Immigration is one of the most controversial topics that have been debated on in the United States. Many people of the government are trying to reform the immigration policies by either allowing those a path to citizenship or to deport those illegal. I believe in allowing immigration in the United States. I believe those immigrants are very important to our economy ,and they help our country flourish. The immigrants ,both legal and illegal, spread culture and diversity for our country. Lastly, one of the most important points is that immigration allows for those to live a happy and better life with their family.
I interviewed my advisor who is a Greek American attended high school in Tampa, Florida between 1971 and 1975. During this period, progressive education emerged again in the U.S. high school because of social and political reasons, including ongoing protests against the Vietnam War and nationwide desegregation for African American (Ravitch, 2000). I chose him as my interviewee because I was interested in exploring the effects of progressive theories for these immigrant students. He attended the single-sex magnet high school, which contains more than 50 percent Greek immigrants. He recalled that he did take the intelligence ...
Society tries to exclude those they find unwanted or undesirable. With the Athenian Polis, it was about controlling citizenship. They were free to work, study, and trade within Athens, but were left out from the rich politician lifestyle. In modern immigrants, the focus is on Mexicans of the United States or North Africans in France, but as Dwyer noted it is far more diverse and complex than that. The number of illegal immigrants is unknown, with around 35 million in the United States to a third of Europe’s
Orfanos, Spyros, ed. Reading Greek America: Studies in the Experience of Greeks in the United States. New York: Pella Publishing Company, 2002.
I chose to write my paper on the comparison and contrast of two immigration groups. I chose them because they are extremely similar once they have arrived in America, and very different culturally. The two groups that I chose are the Mexicans and the Tongans. It is never easy for someone when they arrive in a new country, but it is how you handle yourself while you are there is what counts, so my goal is to show a brief comparison of these two migrant groups. Living in Arizona you come to interact with quite a few Mexicans in your life. Many people are afraid of what they don’t understand, Mexicans and Americans. It is strange to me that Mexicans are the way that they are with their education. They seem to have very little concern for education, while the Tongans put huge bearing on their children’s education. I have personally spoken to a few Mexicans that I work with about their education, and they all say the same thing, “es no neccesarrio!” Meaning that it is not important to them. They feel that their is no future with an education, meaning if they don’t work they don’t live. I think that is one of the hardships that they have to face coming to somewhere like America, with little education it gives them little opportunity to learn English. I know a few people who are living in America and have been since their children were born. They still don’t know English and have very little concern to learn it. Yet their children know English, fluantly. So in away they are accomplishing their goal, and that is to provide a better life for their next generation. To me what the Mexican parents do for their children is a very noble concept, the problem is if th...
Immigration played a large part in public education. With so many children immigrating to America for an education, schools were being packed with students. However, many of these students were not going to school and instead were working in
...fails to make it, the fault is his or her own. Within the Euroamerican schools, class struggle is regulated; society is neatly stratified. By the end of the decade, an all out war had been declared against bilingual education and educational quality.
Kalapodas 8 Dec. 1999 History 101 Dr. Tassinari Immigration: The New American Paul Kalapodas 8 Dec. 1999 Immigration For many, immigration to the United States during the late 19th to early 20th century would be a new beginning to a prosperous life. However there were many acts and laws past to limit the influx of immigrants, do to prejudice, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. Later on into the 20th century there would be laws repealing the older immigration laws and acts making it possible for many more foreigners to immigrate to the United States. Even with the new acts and laws that banned the older ones, no one can just walk right in and become a citizen. One must go through several examinations and tests before he or she can earn their citizenship. The Immigration Act of March 3, 1891 was the first comprehensive law for national control of immigration. It established the Bureau of Immigration under the Treasury Department to administer all immigration laws (except the Chinese Exclusion Act). This Immigration Act also added to the inadmissible classes. The people in these classes were inadmissible to enter into the United States. The people in these classes were, those suffering from a contagious disease, and persons convicted of certain crimes. The Immigration Act of March 3, 1903 and The Immigration Act of February 20, 1907 added further categories to the inadmissible list. Immigrants were screened for their political beliefs. Immigrants who were believed to be anarchists or those who advocated the overthrow of government by force or the assassination of a public officer were deported. This act was made mainly do to the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. On February 5, 1917 another immigration act was made. This Act codified all previous exclusion provisions and added the exclusion of illiterate aliens form entering into the United States. It also created a "barred zone"(Asia-Pacific triangle), whose natives were also inadmissible. This Act made Mexicans inadmissible. It insisted that all aliens pay a head tax of $8 dollars. However, because of the high demand for labor in the southwest, months later congress let Mexican workers (braceros) to stay in the U.S. under supervision of state government for six month periods. A series of statutes were made in 1917,1918, and 1920. The sought to define more clearly which al...
Barker, Cyril J. "Who Are the Black Greeks and Why?" New York Amsterdam News. 18 Feb 2010- 24 Feb 2010: 17+. Print.
The goal of this research is to find out why the immigrant students have to face more challenges in the level of education they achieve, the high level poverty that they face in their daily lives and all the confusing networks they have around them which they have no clue of how to utilize it. Also, the research focusses on the fewer resources immigrant students have while achieving their goals. The research question is important as it does affect all immigrant students and their respective families and not limited just to the immigrant. I am sure many families move to a different country to achieve better education and to make a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones. These families come with so much hope and faith, but in return they are bombarded with so much confusing information that it’s very easy for them to get lost and give up. At last, children are the future and if from being they don’t have the correct resources then how will they achieve their goals.
Should immigration into the United States be limited? Immigrants are a large and growing factor in the stubborn level of poverty seen in the United States over the past two decades because newcomers to the country are more likely to be poor and to remain so long than in the past, according to a new study. The report, released today by the Center for Immigration Studies, says the number of impoverished people in the nation's immigrant-headed households nearly tripled from 2.7 million in 1979 to 7.7 million in 1997. During that same period, the number of poor households headed by immigrants increased by 123 percent while the number of immigrant households increased by 68 percent, according to the study. The share of immigrants living in poverty rose from 15.5 percent to 21.8 percent, the report notes, a change that some analysts say holds troubling implications for the nation's future.
First factor of migration in Athens is religion. Very loyal and friendly attitude of the Greeks to the citizens of other nationalities and foreigners who came partly is in cause of the traditional Christian upbringing. The main religion, venerated in Greece, represented by the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ, controlled by the Holy Synod. Here basically are very religious people that observe all Christian traditions and commandments. However, it is not forbidden to practice Islam or any other religion in the country. So, this factor can be pull for religious people, but also, it can be push for atheists.
Over the past decades, the world has gradually become globalized as a result of the tremendous strides made in the area of information communication and technology (ICT). Today individuals can share or exchange information, ideas as well as transact business activities irrespective of the geographical distance between them. Similarly, migration has increased exponentially over the past decades largely driven by socio-economic as well as political factors. A case in point is the ongoing massive migration of people from war torn Middle Eastern countries such as Syria moving into Europe. As a result most societies particularly in the rich western countries are becoming multicultural due to the influx of people with varying cultural and ethnical backgrounds. One of the sectors that have been impacted by the emerging multiculturalism is the education sector giving rise for the need to reform the education curriculums.
...grees with everything I experienced in school which reflected on my performance and participation in school. I don’t think school gives enough attention to multiculturalism education and I believe it is very important to start doing something about it.
Educational achievement is one of the most important factors of a students’ academic journey. Education as a form of secondary socialisation teaches students, the basic norms and values of society and assists in developing their individual identity. In many cases there are contributing issues that not only hinder, but can dramatically affect a child’s educational achievement and development; but also impacts negatively on their childhood experience. These contributing factors consist of a person’s class, their gender and/or their race and ethnicity; which no child has the ability to change at such a young and impressionable age. The issue of race, ethnicity and gender are essentially a part of a person’s genetic design, which is biologically determined and cannot be changed easily. When a child is born they have no control over the social environment they are born into, it is only in later life that they may have the opportunity to develop and gain a greater chance of social mobility within society. The problematic attributes of gender, social class and race/ethnicity, regarding educational achievement and attainments, are a combination of environmental (social constructivism) and biological design (essentialism). This essay will critique how a child can be labelled and/or stereotyped depending on their individual identity construction, including their social class, gender and/or race and ethnicity, which may lead to problematic issues within their personal educational achievement.