Intelligence Of Mexican-American And Mexican Students.

All over the world there are many features that make up a culture. Culture can be defined as the characteristics, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs of a group of people, relating to language, cuisine, religion, interaction, lifestyle, and more which is learned through socialization. These aspects of cultures are what distinguishes it from others. It is interesting to explore and learn about new cultures. I will be focusing on the Mexican culture, their religion, death, family life, weddings and ….

Mexican-American culture has been characterized as a family-focused, community-oriented culture. Even second and third-generation Mexican-Americans place a higher value upon their relationships with others versus personal autonomy, in contrast with the dominant values of the United States. Living in extended family situations, or being influenced by extended family is much more common in Mexican culture than in other cultures. The core values of Mexican culture are said to be "familismo, personalismo, and respeto. Familismo involves placing the family ahead of individual interests, living near extended family, making collective decisions that involve one or more members of the family, and feeling responsible for and obligated to the family...Personalismo involves the building and valuing of interpersonal relationships...Respeto refers to the high regard for family and community members, especially for authority figures and the elderly" (Neff, Brabeck, Kearney 2006).

Frequently, we do not put too much attention to our own cultural values and traditions until we are exposed to a different culture, and start comparing. In order to have a more productive and fruitful life I believe we need to become more self-aware and more sensitive to the culturally and ethnically diverse community we live in. Two cultures that have been sharing the same living space for centuries are the Hispanic and American culture. In this paper I would be analyzing each culture giving a brief background and pointing out some aspects in how they differ, like the perception of time, family, orientation, and others. American culture has a couple of aspects in which it differs from the Hispanic culture, which for the

Every classroom in America is made up of multiple cultures with many different believes; however, regardless of culture or beliefs all students should receive the best education possible without losing their identities while in the process. Culture is a way of life of a group. Culture and learning are connected in significant ways and for this reason having an understanding of different cultures and learning processes should provide an outline for instructional decisions (Guild, 2001). The first step a teacher must take is to gain an understanding of each child culture. This paper will examine the Hispanic culture, discuss how a teacher could build global awareness and understanding, and incorporate diverse social and cultural views to create innovative methods to solving problems in his or her classroom.

The culture of Mexico reflects the country’s complex history and is the result of the gradual blending of native culture with Spanish culture and other immigrant cultures. Mexico’s culture revolves around and is most prominent in music, food, and celebrations. The combination of beliefs and customs creates the unique Mexican culture.

After reading Seal’s article which stated that Americans often thought kids are born smart while Asians more often believed that studying makes a person smarter, I was reminded my own personal beliefs on intelligence and I realized that I have thought people could get smart by exerting effort since I was in the last year of elementary school in Vietnam. Therefore, I empathized with Seal’s attitude that success and achievement are a result of working hard. I could remember that I got this attitude when I was in an important final exam which decided where my middle school was in the next year that depended on my score. In this exam, the math test was an extremely difficult test for every student because it had a strange math problem which my classmates and I had never studied before. At first, I had spent for 2 hour to solve this problem, but I didn’t succeed. So, I wanted to give up. However, I was worry about my score and thought about my mom, who hoped that I could get the high score enough to enter a famous middle school. Since I didn’t want to disappoint my mom’s wish, I tried to solve this math problem again and again and again. Eventually, I was successful to solve

This paper will try to explain the variety of hardships many Mexican-American students endure in hopes to gain a higher education. Many are driven by the “American Dream”, which is the idea that individuals living in the U.S. have the equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and abilities. The American Dream often motivates foreigners to enter the United States illegally, hoping for that “equal opportunity” to success. However, not everyone living in the U.S. has equal opportunities, compared to native-born American citizens. This is why it can be difficult for Mexican-American students to attend colleges and universities. A higher education is difficult to obtain for Mexican-American students because of their low socioeconomic status, their differing cultural and structural characteristics, and the social and political institutions in our current society. Although this paper does not focus on the educational opportunities in Mexico, this paper will mostly focus on the educational system in the United States, particularly California State University, San Bernardino. In addition, this paper will refer to Mexican-American students as first-generation college students.

Mexican culture dates far back as the 13th century. This is when the Aztecs were prevalent in northern mexico. Aztecs were a people who were all about war and honor. They made many enemies going to war with smaller tribes and brutally killed their enemies. In the 16th century the Aztecs Empire crumbled due to the invasion led by Hernan Cortez. Disease, superior weapons, and aid of the Aztec’s enemies were all contributing factors to the Aztecs downfall. Fast forward September 16th 1810 when Mexico gained its independence from Spain Mexico's identity started to develop. Mexican culture is defined by many things, its food, its language, its clothing, its art. However, There is one aspect that defines Mexican culture and that is family life. Mexicans have a very rich family life that defines the culture. The way that family is organized and the way each member acts can be traced back to the very beginning. It's a mixture of the indigenous peoples culture as well as the Spaniards culture. The indigenous peoples pass on their ideas of honor and machismo and the Spaniards pass on their ideas of catholicism, and family value and structure. I fit into this because I grew up on these ideas and my family still practices some of these ideas today.

One of the largest Hispanic-origin population in the United states are Mexicans (Gonzales-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). Mexican American’s are considered minorities in the United States. There are many reason why I am choosing to explore Mexican Americans for this paper. As a minority myself, I can relate to some of the struggles that Mexican American’s may face. However, there are some things that I will never relate to or know the personal aspect of the Mexican culture. Just like any other population, Mexican Americans have their own culture, values, and challenges.

Education is the key to individual opportunity, the strength of our economy, and the vitality of our democracy. In the 21st century, this nation cannot afford to leave anyone behind. While the academic achievement and educational attainment of Hispanic Americans has been moving in the right direction, untenable gaps still exist between Hispanic students and their counterparts in the areas of early childhood education, learning English, academic achievement, and high school and college completion.

The Mexican culture places a high value on family. They are close-knit and united. It is common for the extended family to reside with the family in the same home. The Mexican men role is to be the support system in the household. In the Mexican culture, they are called machismo, which confirms the dominance and authority in the family. Violence is a characteristic of the machismo’s culture. They are known to be respected and seniority over the women. The women are required to tend to the house chores and take care of the children. They are expected to follow all directives given by the husbands. The husband being the head of the household is a culture norm for Mexicans. The children are to be respectable and obedient and reside with their parents regardless of the age until they are married.

A cultural analysis is a combination of many elements. Cultures have traditions, customs, habits, beliefs, practices, and values. Each culture can have different traditions in their own essence. These traditions can come from their ancestors ' and passed down the generations. However, some people don’t like to continue their ancestors traditions and adapt others customs from another culture. The culture change depending on the time and place. The enrichment of cultures consists of adaptation and acceptance of another culture 's beliefs. Not all of the people can tolerate other cultures, traditions, languages or stereotypes. Cultures attack or support other cultural values The Mexican culture is hard-working and are strict in their values and traditions. The power and oppression of the cultures are current; social and economic conditions in the people in cultures. The Mexican culture has social and economic conditions oppressed by the power of its Government. In the play “Los Vendidos” Luis Valdez, talks about the multiple accent and background of Mexican people.

Texas in it self is a highly diverse multicultural society. It takes on many aspects of many different cultures. One very noticeable culture that has a great impact on Texas would be that of the Mexican culture. Because Mexican culture is so apparent in Texas, that it is easy to compare and contrast some cultural aspects between Mexican and American cultures. This attempt to compare and contrast these two different yet similar cultures will increase awareness and acceptance of cultural differentiation. In order to examine these two cultures closely, I will use Hofstede's

Every culture has their own unique and distinguishing characteristics. One’s cultural identity defines who they are as an individual, group, and community. Their cultural identity may be reflected in numerous ways such as: language, communication styles, religion, beliefs, values, clothing, or other types of aesthetic markers. Cultural identity is formed by many of these traits but is not limited to these specifically. This essay will provide detailed information on Mexican Americans, and their ancestry and heritage. I will also explain about this cultures central beliefs and values, while incorporating information on Mexican Americans, cultural patterns, cultural identity, and their cultures communication characteristics and styles.

The second classroom I observed was a first grade class of twenty-five students. Students in this class were all of Mexican descent and labeled as early intermediate English language learners. The