The Social Equity Of Human Capital, Employment Discrimination

United by the obligations of the law, yet entirely divided by society, welcome to America. Patriots chant “equality” one moment, and “deport them” the next. Cruel, unaccepting, and uncompassionate, American society of the majority often appears to view itself as sovereign, turning a blind eye to, and often contributing to, the struggles of minorities. In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan (1990) does an excellent job of sharing her experience with similar issues as she tells her readers about the struggles her mother encountered due to being an immigrant who only spoke “broken” English. Society often put no weight into what Tan’s mother had to say, believing her ability to express her thoughts reflected the quality of said thoughts, which are of absolutely no correlation (Tan, 1990). This often led to Tan having to intervene for her mother, especially during serious situations that required resolution (Tan, 1990). Immigrants, no matter how intelligent or talented, may be plagued by continuous struggles because of a lack of understanding of English or American culture, stereotypes encouraged by the media, and discrimination, especially in the workplace.

Racism also exists between people from non-English speaking backgrounds and native speakers of English. Because of language barriers, non-native speakers of English have more difficulties of will employment and in general, they have lower income. Also, they have fewer opportunities for promotion despite their

The impressive increase in earnings with length of time in the United States among immigrants is in large part due to their increase in English language proficiency the longer they live in the US. There are also many non-economic benefits for immigrants from becoming proficient in English. These include access to and participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of the country, including passing the language test in order to become a citizen (Chiswick & Miller forthcoming). Certain factors, however, make it more difficult for some individuals or immigrant groups to become proficient in spoken or

Despite Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law which bans gender and race discrimination in employment, advancement, and termination, ethnic discrimination and prejudice in the workplace is still a very pertinent issue. In fact, racial discrimination is the most common kind of discrimination workers report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency in charge of enforcing Title VII. Prejudice in the workplace is shown in a variety of forms, is either obvious or subtle, and at times may occur without employers even realizing it. As the General Manager of a popular restaurant in Texas, I witnessed such racial discrimination and prejudice firsthand and saw how detrimental it is to the success of

The English language has many tongues. From the 1500’s where people started migrating to the thirteen colonies to today where America is surrounded by immigration. From the beginning of history, society has been shaping English and its quality. It’s shown in Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” the varying ways one speaks them, regardless of being the same language. The author’s mother is being discriminated against due to speaking a different English from the proper form of English. Amy uses her personal experiences to contribute to the English- speaking community about inequality of different tongues through rhetorical appeals such as pathos, ethos, and logos. Amy Tan in her essay “Mother Tongue” claims that foreigners and immigrants who can’t speak proper English are treated differently.

When returning back to Wanzek’s after layoff I had noticed in my paycheck I had lost $2 an hour in pay when I had received a $2 raise and a gift certificate before layoff. I did report the loss of wage to Tina Harrison in Human Resources and she would e-mail Phyllis at Headquarters. Anthony Butler has

Language discrimination is an inevitable issue experienced in contemporary society as there are numerous variations and accents of the English language. This is evident in the texts, "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan and "The case of Robyn Kina" by Diana Eades. These texts explore the many forms of this discrimination, these being both personal and communal, and contrast or vary in terms of severity.

In a perfect world, people would be equal in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, despite their race or gender. In the world we live in, however, we always face all kinds of neglect based on different attributes. All over the United States, certain people treat others with prejudice because of particular features they possess. Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination occur even in places which, by definition, should be free of all personal prejudices – specifically, in offices and other business surroundings. This tragedy is called workplace discrimination; not every unfair behavior at work, however, can be assessed as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace happens when an employee experiences unfair treatment due to their race, gender, age, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other characteristics. Discrimination is one of the largest issues people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with. The U.S. have laws and regulations on discrimination but it still often occurs. Workplace discrimination appears in hiring, training, promotion, firing, and other institutional or interpersonal treatment. Discrimination sometimes causes an employee to leave or quit the workplace, resign from a position, or in more severe cases, to commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. Discrimination is one of the largest issues many people face in the workplace.

Furthermore, language poses a big barrier for immigrants’ employability. Most of the immigrants are coming from non-English speaking countries (Biles et al., 269). So, although before immigration they pass IELTS or similar English testing examinations (Six selection factors, 2017, para 2), are not familiar with actual English vocabulary, accent and intonations. Language inefficiency creates a huge barrier for them to connect properly with employers, which is the main reason for

This story takes place in old Sacramento, California around the 1950’s. A lot of this excerpt from Hunger of Memory covers Richard Rodriguez's childhood and how he has become a grown-up. He is the third of two Mexican immigrants in Sacramento and has two sisters and one brother. Rodriguez shows his youth as "unusual," because of to the battle between his private family life and his public life outside of the family. Before Rodriguez was seven, Spanish was the everyday spoken language and is a part of his home, (qtd. par. 17)…

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

Without knowing English, finding a good job will be nearly impossible, as reflected in the “Now That I’m Here” survey. Farkas states, that 85 percent of those surveyed agree that learning English is crucial for jobs in the United States. Immigrants already have a hard enough time obtaining a job in the United States without further troubles. Many employers are looking for those with job experience, that immigrants usually do not have. Even if they have the experience, their certifications will typically not transfer from their native country; this proves that immigrants are not given an equal opportunity compared to the natives (Nuñez).

Discrimination is nothing new to our society or is it something that should be taken lightly and for many decades our Nation has endured many conflicts that have tested the will of Americans over the decades and it is evident that as we have become more diverse so too has our workforce. Although, we are in the twenty first century the goal is to understand why prejudice and discrimination is still so prevalent and how we can do better while trying to bring together our different backgrounds, skills, and experiences still has proven to be an issue that minorities are constantly fighting as they struggle to find there place in society. Through an array of well-educated researchers showing how diversity is nothing new to our society, but if we are to continue to grow and move forward we must be able to understand that with diversification we can foster a strong and inclusive economy that is built to last and nurture a nation that will continue to lead the world as standard setter.

There are emotional and legal concerns surrounding whether immigrants should learn to speak English. Domenico Maceri (2009), an award-winning author and foreign language instructor at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria California, states “I never met an immigrant in the United States who needed laws to be reminded that English is necessary to succeed” (par. 9).

Discrimination is an ongoing problem that has been prevalent since the beginning of human existence. With discrimination though, there are subtopics and these subtopics will always direct a certain type of person. A subtopic of discrimination is the abusement towards people of a second language. Discrimination in the perspective of the discriminator may consist of undermining, restricting, or humiliating the victim; and as the victim, one has to endure this kind of abuse. There have been countless scenarios where second language discrimination occurs including in cultural literature like “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan. In result to acknowledging the recurrences of discriminatory events, I firmly believe there may be a solution to the daily abuse.