Immigrant Assimilation

While immigrant youth may gain useful knowledge and skills, they miss out significantly on culture resources because they become Americanized. Subtracting schooling occurs in a variety of ways. Classifying ESL (English as a second language) are labeled “limited English proficient rather than as Spanish dominant” (p. 173), faculty and staff linguistically butcher names through mispronunciations, materials such as the school handbook that does not even mention the ELS program are not provided in English, and information is withheld from capable youth which can result in failure. This chapter also addresses the divisions among youth such as Latina female friends, religious immigrant males, immigrant females in trouble, ESL students, mixed generation groups, and U.S. born

Parents have their beliefs and practices when rearing their children, they share their customs and beliefs with their families to guide and support their families. Parents hope to share their practices from generation to generation, however when immigrants relocate other to countries they adapt to new ways of living (Two Parents, 2009). Immigrants relocate to provide their families with financial stability and better education. Some immigrants face obstacles when they relocate to North America, such as language barriers, discipline issues, and little involvement in their child’s education. Many of the immigrants first language is not English, their language barrier may hinder them from communicating with employers and classroom educators

For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author

Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, analysts at the Migration Policy Institute, suggest that almost 3 million of South American immigrants moved to the United States in 2014, where 77% of the total population were from Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. In addition, they stated that New York state was one of the areas that accounts for the greatest population of these Latin American immigrants who come to this country to pursue better educational opportunities, especially in the math and science fields; however, the English barrier becomes an obstacle for those who want to achieve it. The age at which they arrived is crucial for their learning because the younger they are; the more time they will have to learn the English language as well as adapt to a new system and culture; but what happens with immigrants who come at an older age? Simply, the obstacles are more than just the

In American society, there are multiple cultures and races exist. Since immigrants bring the various cultures to America, Americans face a highly controversial problem. Some of the Americans believe all of the ethnic groups assimilate into a common culture can help Americans distinctly identify themselves. Others argue that ethnic groups should not abandon their cultural heritages background. As a result, merging different cultures into one new culture will cause America lose its cultural diversity which is one significant charm of this country. On the contrary, if every ethnic group only focuses on building their own community and resists communicate with others, it will aggravate the separation of a nation. Although people often argue about these two ways which one is more appropriate to Americans, I think Richard Rodriguez's idea is more realistic in nowadays American society. Rodriguez resists the idea of the melting pot, and believes that assimilation is inevitable and reciprocal. In the essay Does America Still Exist?, Rodriguez explains his thought to us through his experiences.

It is expected that ultimately there will be a loss of ethnic distinctiveness for immigrants in the U.S., meaning the lack of attachment to the country of origin. (Golash-Boza, 2006) It is argued that all ethnic distinctiveness will no longer exist by the seventh or eighth generations. Before exploring the influence of foreign born vs. U.S. born parents on their children’s cultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the

Many researchers have studied the immigrant assimilation in the recent years. America’s ethnic groups have been expected to come together as one and into the mainstream of american society for decades. Immigrant assimilation is a complex process in which immigrants should not only fully integrate themselves to a new country but also lose aspects perhaps all their heritage too if necessary. Social scientists rely on a primary benchmark to assess immigrant assimilation which is socioeconomic status. A melting pot can be described as a metaphor which indicates a society where many different types of people blend in as one.

I was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and live in the U.S. I went to Lowell High School and took all ESL because I didn’t know much about English. In order to succeed, I started to read and speak more English than my first language, yet I speak Khmer at home because my parent doesn 't want me to lose my native language. In America, there are a lot of immigrants that are trying to come and to get a better opportunity. According to Joel Swerdlow, in “Changing America,” “before 1965 more than three-quarters of all immigrants to the U.S. came from Europe, owing largely to quotas that favored northern Europeans.” (313). In 1965 Congress removed those quotas, and since then more than 60 percent of immigrants have come from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Latin America. However, do children of immigrants often feel they must lose their cultural identity in order to be American? Children of immigrants often feel they must lose their cultural identity because they are changing their own culture identity regarding three topics: Language, Dress, and Behavior.

Latino immigrants have always had many obstacles when coming into the United States, the difference between the American and the Latin cultures is what has caused a huge hurdle that immigrants have found hard to overpass. This obstacle has caused many generations to go through cultural assimilation. Mize et al. (2012) explain that cultural assimilation is the adaptation of immigrants to unfamiliar cultural patterns, which include language and the value systems of other cultures. In order for immigrants to be successful in another country, which is not of their origin; they need to learn how to assimilate to their new homes. Immigrants have learned that they need to adapt in order to get to experience new opportunities and also to learn from new cultures that are not theirs (Mize et al., 2012). Immigrants have learned that they are not leaving behind their own believes and norms, but mixing their norms, this gives them the opportunity to create and mix their culture with the new. Cultural assimilation can be hard to achieve because in one hand it is important to change in order to live within a different culture, but on the other hand it is important for a person to maintain their identity regardless of where they live. At times immigrants find it difficult to achieve a balance and for many families it is a struggle over generations. There are different levels of assimilation, some immigrants come to the

Education is one of the best ways to help immigrants to assimilate to their new country; in way that the faster they can learn the ways of the new country, the faster they can become a part of it. An immigrant’s children, if they even have any, need to be able to speak and read in English in order to attend classes and learn the material, as well as making friends. According to the Robert Wood Foundation, most immigrants would say that their lacks of English related skills are a major barrier to improving their life or social standards. Most school systems have what they call ESL classes, English

Language is much more than a method of communication. Permeated within it are traditions, customs, and legacies of one’s culture. The identity of an entire population is in the distinct vocalizations of their native language. Unfortunately, as a wave of immigrants enters the United States at young ages, many face language barriers that pose significant challenges. Language barriers affect a multitude of immigrant populations to different degrees. This, in turn, causes many of them to abandon not only their native tongue but a piece of their ethnic identity, as well. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s personal narrative,“The Language of Silence,” she describes the difficulties she experienced throughout her childhood with a language barrier as a

Many immigrants come to the United States in pursuit of opportunity, however they struggle to adopt the dominant culture’s language, which limits the job opportunities available to them. Historically, immigrants assimilated by having to learn dominant language, but this challenge led them to create ethnic enclaves that make them feel more welcomed. Many enclaves in the United States, for example the Latino population in San Francisco’s Mission District, give a sense of comfort and nostalgia of home because people from that community have similarities to their homeland. Newcomers do not need to step out of their enclave because they have all the support they need in their communities. Although many immigrants come to the United States in hope of opportunity, they are limited to achieving and moving forward because of their ethnic enclaves. Because these enclaves do not allow them to expand into different cultures, they are limited both socially and economically.

In this paper, I want to focus on Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools. As a previous high school immigrant when I first arrived in United States, I have experience numerous difficulties in school that I would never forget. In addition, I believe immigrant students of secondary school can face major difficulties in learning English and succeeding in school. Since these students do not have a lot of time than elementary students to learn English, and they have to pass several test that require English skill such as the ACT and SAT. Above all, most secondary school texts and materials require a sufficient English reading ability to understand, which will even make learning experience becoming even tougher for high school immigrant.

Language barriers, cultural differences, and immigration have been a part of life in the U.S. Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. It is generally agreed that language and culture

Throughout history, the United States has repeatedly defined itself as a melting pot, a notion that derives from the idea that the plethora of different cultures, believes, religion entities, ethnic group compositions, and many more are morphed into a new one. Most recently the blending or melting concept has been reevaluated and the term tossed salad seems to be more appropriate. However, racial differences often result in hostility stemming from stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice. Nevertheless, this classification considers that assimilation and acculturation varies for immigrant groups hence cultural differences are still identifiable such as in a tossed salad; forming a mosaic of culture and hybrid identities. Culture is defined