First Generation Immigrants and Education

As immigrants, parents put much more emphasis on children’s study issues and thus children with immigrant parents are typically imbued with a strong sense of family obligation and ethnic pride, and with the importance of education which may help these children getting better grades. (Shields & Behrman, 2004)

There is an ancient African adage that states “If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting stones today”. As a first generation immigrant to the United States and reminiscent of countless other immigrants who have come before me, moving to a new country literally means starting your life all over again from scratch, but symbolically it signifies a rebirth of oneself and a chance to metamorphose into whatever new creature you aspire to be. Some of the challenges I faced included culture shock, language barriers, financial barriers, but the utmost significant one was the education barrier. I quickly realized that if I could bridge the education gap I would be able to overcome all the other barriers. For myself, having an education epitomized my assimilation into my new life by enabling me to chase my dreams and realize my unique American dream.

Education, or the lack thereof, has always been something that plagued my immediate family. I come from a background of immigrant parents—hard-working, yet unable to acquire academic achievements. My father did not graduate out of high school in Vietnam because he was drafted into the Vietnam War and escaped as a refugee thereafter. My mother, on the other hand, graduated from high school but was not able to pursue higher education due to the burdens she had working and raising me as a child.

First generation college students are those who are seeking to be the first in their family to earn a degree, according to UCLA. First- generation students can come from low, middle, or high income families without a history of going to college. Families of first generation students can either be supportive of the students plan for a high education or make them feel family pressure to enter the workforce right after high school like they did. First generation students often do not know their options regarding higher education and have fears about going to college and it’s cost. Currently, 42% of UC undergraduates are first generation.

Study conducted by Hicks (2006), compared educational barriers of first-generation to non-first-generation students; first-generation students had dissimilar expectations of college, poorer academic abilities, lack of social preparation, lack of self-esteem, and more financial constraints (Hicks, 2003; Thayer, 2000).

Children tend to have an easier time assimilating than their older counterparts; children are quickly “Americanized,” which can clash with expectations from their own culture. For example, an “Americanized” child may become embarrassed of wearing ethnic clothing once adapting to the designer clothing environment of American youth. Children also learn English at a faster pace than their parents, which taints the parent-child dynamic. Children with disrupted or minimal school education are suddenly thrown in a new educational environment. Various immigrant children struggle to keep up in class, due to different academic standards across different countries. A kid with a poor education may be overwhelmed with an American education, which has a reputation of being top-notched. Those who are unable to speak English, find it impossible to keep up with their peers, parents also may not have the education or language skills to assist their children. When my sister Mavis came to America from Ghana, she was in the 4th grade, she ended up having to repeat 4th grade because she knew almost no English and could only speak

Acculturation can determine whether a first generation Salvadoran American student’s pursues higher education. As new immigrants immersed in the American culture, they have to adapt or comprehend the culture acceptable “behavior, values, language, and customs” in order to educational succeed (McCallister 2015). Moreover, California is a diverse state that first generation students come across a dilemma of longer period of time to dominate the native language. For instance, Lucy grew up in Central California, in a small Hispanic enclave. As a result, Lucy was exposed to Spanish conversations at home and in the community, except in the school. School provided Lucy the opportunity to apply the immersion technique:

As an immigrant, I understood the value of education when I arrived in the United States. My parents didn’t get a chance to get an education after immigrating to the United States because they had a family to take care of. Therefore, getting an education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn is very precious to my parents and I. An education here, will provide many opportunities, and ultimately, it will pave the way for me to support my family better.

Migrant children face a number of obstacles when they move to a foreign country and these challenges can greatly affect students’ school performance. The result of whether or not an immigrant student goes to college is greatly concerned with the “social-class split within the immigrant population” (Jaffe-Walter & Lee, 2011, pg.281). Immigrant families who have an upper class background tend to have the resources they need to succeed in America. These families are less likely to struggle financially and are able to give their children a proper education. Upper class immigrants are more likely to be involved and aware of the problems within a school system and are willing to fight against them. Highly educated settlers have a greater opportunity to send

First generation immigrants can be people born in the U.S. or not, and their parents are immigrants. For the first generation, although they may be legal or not, they feel attacked and are always worried because of what could happen to their parents. This is one group of immigrants in the United States who have thrived, going on with their lives by completing a higher education than that of their parents and have careers. This is the general structure that has come because of immigration, the first generation started at the bottom of the occupational ladder, but their sons and daughters and their grandchildren invested in education, capitalized upon opportunities in the nation 's expanding economy, and moved rapidly into the middle

Second generation immigrants are becoming more and more common in different countries, as first generation immigrants start having kids. These children are becoming much more integrated into the countries that they are born in and due to that, many of them are becoming assimilated into that country’s culture. This causes several problems with the parents of these children, as the parents feel that their children are losing their cultural and their identity, while the children believe that the best way to integrate into that country is to become like everyone else there. Several things are thought to correlate with second generation immigrants and their integration into society. Some examples include, education, family relationships, and cultural

First Generation Americans are people that immigrated to the United States, usually being born in another country. They are very peculiar to the American eye, because of the culture and personalities they bring along. Most immigrants usually have a stereotype of what the American people are like, and it differs depending on where they are from. Some believe that Americans hate them and are always trying to change their beliefs and their ideology of life. Because of that they like to keep their kids on a very short leash, and try to maintain their cultures in their life so they won’t ever forget.

Has the way we see immigration change? Immigration laws have effected many illegal immigrants that live and work in the United States by changing the status of the undocumented good and bad. With also affecting their children’s education, too many parents is the number one priority to their children, but what is the next step after high school and starting a career, immigrants face problem such as being a citizen in applying for college, scholarship, financial aid and work permits.

When we think about immigrants we think about new cultures, language and certainly, new experiences. Many immigrants arrive from all over the world to this multicultural city. The majority of them looking for a better future. However, in the process of assimilation these immigrants' families also face challenges; especially with their children. One of the problems these children generally encounter is not receiving the right sources for help; when it comes to education. As a matter of fact, not only immigrants

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.