Immigrant Children : A Growing Problem For American Schools

Out of those million immigrants there are about one out of five children under the age of eighteen are either an immigrant or a child of immigrants parents. (Orozco, 2001). The majority of immigrants are from Latino or Asian origin. The United States has been experiencing a large wave of people coming into this country to start a new life from what they had before. Every region in the country is experiencing the growth of immigration every year. With this new immigration the U.S is witnessing immigrant children take over public schools. Today immigrant students are becoming the fastest population to grow in the child population in the United States (Hamilton, 2010). Many parents send their children to the United States and separate themselves from them because they want them to have a better life and live the American dream. Many kids go to school at a young age and get through high school and college and even start their careers. But many of them have to live in fear of being found out. They can’t trust many people, even the closest one to them (Vargas,

Immigrant children endue a great deal of stress. This stress is created as a result of leaving familiar people and places and entering a new place with a different culture and language. During this process, many immigrant children struggle to re-establish themselves as they enter the United States. These children need to feel connected and accepted because these are important factors of child development. For children who do not feel connected with their peers, family, or school may have an increased risk of suicide, school failure and drop-out, and criminal activity.

The majority of American children grow up learning that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. There is little room for argument against the idea that the United States is a nation founded on immigration. However, there are some Americans who contend to the idea that new immigrants should not be allowed into United States and should receive no help adapting to their new culture. When people travel to the United States, the majority choose to bring their children with them. These children leave their homes and must come face to face with their new surroundings. If children are rejected at the border, what does that say about American citizens? How the children are treated by their peers can have a considerable impact on their likelihood of success. If nearly 44 million foreign-born people live in the United States 22 percent of those people are children, that leaves with America nearly 10 million immigrant children who may need assistance while trying to go through school. Immigrant children are typically described as those who have at least one foreign-born parent. These children deserve the same opportunities to succeed as the typical American born children. With assistance, immigrant children are likely to graduate high school and even move forward with college. If American citizens wish to make the United States a better place, they must move forward with helping the immigrant children.

Thirdly, they point out that a diverse student body better prepares college students to interact and work with individuals of diverse backgrounds in the future. By creating an environment where students can be exposed to a racially diverse group of people, their interactions further reduce prejudice and misconceptions about race (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003). The amicus brief reveals that race is an inseparable component of an applicant 's’ experiences and should not be excluded from the admission officers’ consideration.

According to the American Immigration Council “There are approximately 1.5 million undocumented children in the United States, and each year tens of thousands graduate from primary or secondary school, often at the top of their classes.” For most of these students, legal status squanders their chances at pursuing higher education and following their dreams: leaving them with uncertain futures. This is a very compelling problem because the U.S. is the only home a lot of these students have known. A lot of these students become fluent in English and serve as interpreters for their parents-which helps their parents become accustomed to the American culture and successfully integrate into society. These students have the potential to excel in medicine, law, education, business, entrepreneurship, etc.

Children in immigrant families are often considered at increased risk of maltreatment due to the stress and pressure experienced by the family resulting from immigration and acculturation. Within the child welfare system, the number of Latino children has steadily risen over the past several years, with national data indicating that the percentage of Latino children confirmed as victims of maltreatment has risen from 10.0% in 1995 to 14.2% in 2000 to 17.4% in 2005 (Dettlaff et al. 2009). This data represents only one part of the various research studies conducted in order to better understand immigrant families entry and presence in the child welfare system. In Earner’s (2007) research study, a focus group was facilitated with immigrant families who were already part of the child welfare system. From this focus group a few key themes arose, there was a deep concern for the public service workers lack of awareness on issues that immigrant families face and the needs that they encounter (Earner, 2007). There was also concern about the service and referrals they were receiving since many of them were dependent upon eligibility which they did not meet due to their immigration status (Earner, 2007)

One of the larger changes in our workforce is that the employee population is becoming more and more diverse. The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the workforce in 2014 was made up primarily by Caucasians coming in at 79%. African Americans, Asians, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and race list as “other” made up the additional working population (BLS Reports, 2014). Although when looking these different races individually you wouldn’t think that they are a large part of the population. But when you are talking about 21% of our workforce, that is a large number. Looking at the number of people by race actually work is also very interesting. Native Hawaiian 70%, Pacific Islanders 66%, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians 64.6%, Caucasians 63.5% , 63.3% of people descending from two or more races, African Americans 61.2%, and American Indian and Alaska Natives 59.6% (BLS Reports, 2014). Over the last three years our school as went from being a primarily caucasian school to a school with a diverse population. I believe this has made our school strong and offered more of an opportunity for the students and staff to emerge and understand the diverse culture we have all around us. Understand and teaching our students will make a student population that will themselves be more knowledgeable and understanding of the

Our students come from different backgrounds, race, language, and culture. Let us not deny any child of a quality education, an education that can change their lives.

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

“Our nation is built upon a history of immigration, dating back to our first pioneers, the pilgrims. For more than three centuries, we have welcomed generations of immigrants to our melting pot of hyphenated America: British-Americans; Italian-Americans; Irish-Americans; Jewish-Americans; Mexican-Americans; Chinese-Americans; Indian-Americans,” Ami Bera, American physician and United States (U.S.) Representative for the Democratic Party. Like other foreign individuals that live in the U.S., Ami Bera is of Indian decedent and credits the opportunity given to him by our country to education and government assistance

Since our country’s founding, the topic of immigration has been deliberated amongst many scholars. The question of who has the right to come to the United States and what they are entitled to after their arrival has been an ongoing discussion amongst various academic disciplines. More so recently, since the vast majority of the immigrant population has become concerned with their rights to higher education. For this reason, the discussion on immigration has become a hot topic amongst the American population and therefore, the field of inquiry of many academic disciplines like: Education and Psychology. For example, Research Associate and Director of Education Programs at Hunter College, Luis O. Reyes addresses the concerns that the

According to the migrationpolicy.org in 2010 the reports show low-income immigrant children were significantly less likely to make a doctors appointment weather having private or public health care insurance. Of the low-income immigrant children only forty-seven percent, forty-four percent with private coverage and sixty-two percent of public overage over their native-born children that sixty-nine percent, sixty-nine percent with private coverage, and seventy-one and a half percent with public coverage (Ku and Jewers). With the raise in obesity it is very important that they are able to go to the doctors the check their health. Having programs and doctors appointments set up can help them to learn where they need help weather its in their diets or in their exercise. I think having a program at schools can provide a better opportunity for both the children and the parents to have check ups especially when families are raises the rates of obesity.

The students that I observe are all diverse in many ways, which play into their educational development. To begin, there are certain classes that are predominately white, and some that are predominately black. I have noticed that there is never an in-between, and that there is a few Hispanic students thrown into

“A child without education, is like a bird without wings.”- Tibetan proverb. Since the discovery of the Americas, immigration has played a vital role in the development of the United States of America. People migrated here due to the extensive land available, resources but most of all the countless opportunities this new territory had to offer. In the present day, immigration has changed from being opportunistic to trying to find a complete new and better way of life, immigrants are risking their lives to get in and improve their way of life. For a person to succeed in life, there is a basic right which many countries unfortunately do not even offer its citizens, the right for the best education

The issues of immigration and the efforts schools are supposed to provide for the country are looked upon differently in respect to who you are to ask. At the federal level, the government states that every child is allowed to obtain an education. On the other hand, the local state government feels that they are able to vote on issues of denying education for all immigrant children. Throughout this essay, I will look at several schools and districts in the San Diego county area that are dealing with the issues of education for a diverse population, the demographics of the school and neighboring cities they are located and the summarization of whether the school are doing their part to make the transition for newcomer children easier to