First Generation Latino Students Essay

The United States Hispanic population continues to increase each year. In turn, school populations of Hispanics increase as well. Hispanics, although improving academically, continue to have high school dropout rates, higher than other racial and ethnic groups and continue to lag behind school peers. The discrepancy between Hispanic students and other students’ achievement is the result of many factors, including acculturalization, language acquisition, poverty, and school factors. Schools

Growing up in a Latino household is hard. My parents only spoke Spanish therefore my first language was Spanish. For the first few years of my life this was not really a problem, I enjoyed life as any normal little girl would. I got to talk to all of my cousins and all of the neighbor’s children. It wasn’t until I got to school that it became real that I was going to learn English. Don’t get me wrong I always knew I had to learn English my parents always talked to me about school and helped me as much as they could. It was also around this same time where I started to understand that it was not only hard for me it was hard for them as well. My parents had to live in this country not knowing the main language spoken.

Latino/a first generation college students are also stressed due to financial anxiety. Since, Latino/a first-generation college students come from predominately low socioeconomic status families that never thought about saving money for college, the stress about how to pay for college and tuition arises. Since these students are the first from their family to attend college, academic and financial expectations are increased with the now need to balance school and work in order to pay for their education and basic life expenses. Most low income families will benefit from the FAFSA and government grants; however, if the lack of necessary resources as mentioned above is not present. The guidance of how to fill of the FASA was mostly likely not there.

Hispanics or Latinos are defined as a people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish speaking culture. This term “Hispanics” was created by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970’s to refer to Americans born in a Spanish speaking nation or with ancestry to Spanish territories. Hispanics people are vibrant, socializing, and fun loving people. Among various facts associated to this culture is that they have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures.

As a first-generation Latina in college, I could not be where I am without the help of multiple individuals. My parent’s sacrificed so much coming into this country. They left behind their family, their home, in order to one day provide a better future for me. Initially, my parents planned on staying in America for five years then they would go back to Ecuador. However plans changed once my mom became pregnant with me. The decision to stay in order to give me the best future possible greatly affected both my parents. They suffer greatly and lament leaving their family everyday. Only my mom has the slight possibly of returning to her home country but unfortunately, the only thing waiting her is her mother’s grave.

“Wow...there is no way you’re Latino. You’re way too white!” was the ignorant remark made by a one of my peers during my school’s annual Latin-American Fest. Initially, hearing this claim made me look into the mirror. I began to stroke my face and examine my physical features. Was this true? Was I not Latino enough? Did the amount of melanin or lack thereof deem me as Latino?

Various details, like teachers giving up on students, or teachers easily removing a student from class can attribute to the success young Latinos will have with their education thus impacting the surveys taken on education levels of Latinos as shown in Latinos in the United States. Many individuals had the knowledge of what education can lead to and what high standards were and part of the problem of why they do not follow it is their economic situation, as discussed in class. During class, we watched a documentary called “The Graduates” and undocumented students feel that education may not be a possibility and that reminds me how

The current trend in lack of Latina/o students attending college combines a lack of college readiness with a deficiency in resources to prepare this student population. More and more higher education scholars are accepting these deficiencies as roadblocks to college access, and are looking to preparation programs and parent educational resources as a subject worthy of consideration. There are many different challenges being faced by this population, a population that is according to Oliva and Nora, “the fastest growing minority population in the country”(Oliva & Nora, 2004). Research shows that “less than 43% of Hispanic high school students are qualified to enroll in 4 year institutions”(Saunders & Serna, 2004). With the rapid growth in

Starting in the late nineteenth century until the end of World War II, the immigration policy in the United States experienced dramatic changes that altered the pace of immigration. High rates of immigration sparked adverse emotions and encouraged restrictive legislation and numerous bills in Congress advocated the suspension of immigration and the deportation of non-Americans (Wisconsin Historical Society). Mexican American history was shaped by several bills in Congress and efforts to deport all non-Americans from the United States. The United States was home to several Spanish-origin groups, prior to the Declaration of Independence. The term “Mexican American” was a label used to describe a number of Hispanic American groups that

The majority of all first generation Latinos don’t have the adequate resources needed to comprehend how the system of education works. Immigrant parent have different customs and do nott understand the educational customs here in the United States. Because of the different customs, education is not a priority. Their socioeconomic status can affect their perspective on education, most of them just want to provide for their family and think pursuing a career is optional. Because of their culture their parents are usually aware of, some parents do not realize education is a necessity in life.

It reviewed that the second generation Latinos had social mobility such as economic progress and employment opportunities. Moreover, the writers (Tran and Valdez) mentioned that the second generation Latinos had better employment and high paying jobs. Generally according to this article (Tran and Valdez, 2008-2012 the second generation Latinos closed the gap which was between first immigrant Latinos and native whites. Therefore second generation Latinos integrated in to the American society. In addition Tran and Valdez stated with effective data the outcomes of various racial groups and immigrants. Generally they analyzed that the second generation Latinos are more successful than the first Latino generation.

As someone who is planning on getting licensed to teach two different, yet often marginalized, groups in a school setting, it is very important to consider how to make a school welcoming to all of its students. There is a lot of information available on making a classroom inclusive for students with special needs, but this sort of information is harder to come by for immigrant students who speak a language other than English at home. For this paper, I am looking into the question of how can a school be fundamentally welcoming to students from an immigrant background. I will be doing this by analyzing the experiences of students at a school in Bayview, California, the topic of Made in America: Immigrant Students in our Public Schools, a famous book by Laurie Olsen (1997). Her purpose was to study, “Through their encounters[, …] an illuminated version of the American system of stratification and exclusion through language, cultural, and racial relations” (p. 36). However, by analyzing and describing the school, Olsen has made it possible to assess any number of concerns that immigrant and English Language Learners (ELLs) face. Using the legwork she has already done, I have identified three characteristics a welcoming school should strive towards in order to help immigrant students.

I never really thought of Latino problems in depth, I only used to think of the hardships that African Americans have to face on a day to day basis. After reading this excerpt, I understand that African Americans are not the only race that feel like they are being oppressed. Just like the black community, latinos are set up by the government to live a certain life. They grow up in these areas where they are set up to be gangsters, or at least not to succeed in society. In these colored communities, there is not as many resources, such as books, to keep their kids academically occupied. They have to resort to putting their kids in front of the TV to keep them busy, which is not helping them grow at all. One of the reasons they do not have these

In 2012 for the first time in history the college enrollment for Latinos surpassed that of whites among 18 to 24 year olds. (Krogstad & Fry, 2014) However, first-year retention rates reveal reasons for concern; in 1999 the retention rate for Latino/a students from the first to second year was a dismal 75.7%. (Seidman, 2005) However, despite these gains there is still reason for concern; California, the state with the largest Latino population, only 16% of Latinos ages 25 and up hold an associate or bachelor’s degree; this compared to 38% of all Californians the same age. (Lilley, 2014) That number is even lower for Californian Latino/as earning a bachelor degree, 12%. (Quinton, 2015) Furthermore, in California only 42%

Latino students are making a bigger effort to improve their own lives and improve their family's well-being day by day. They have realized that the best way to succeed in life is to attend college. During the last couple of years, we have seen an increase in the number of Hispanic students attending college, which is a great sign of the desire they possess to accomplish their dreams. However, even though we have more Latino students entering college, the problem arises when the number of Latino students graduating from college is not proportional to the number of students attending college initially.