African Americans and the US Education System - Essay Example

Introduction

First generation Mexican –American refers to those children born in the United States and have one or more parents who were born in Mexico. This paper is intended to analyze the American education system and its relevance to the first generation Mexican Americans. Being an immediate generation from the immigrants, this generation is still highly assimilated to its Mexican origin. As a result, the integration into the American education system becomes a challenge to them due to economic as well as social factors. Initial challenges owing to their parents’ migration status coupled with different cultural orientations acts as a stumbling block to their educational development making them have the lowest educational level among the American population.

Cultural Group

Cultural identities are historical in nature. History transforms and does not remain the same. As such, cultural identities go through constant changes. It is this understanding of the transformation of cultural identity that will help us understand the cultural groups of the Mexican Americans. These cultural groups have evolved due to the different levels of assimilation that has occurred in the Mexican-American first generation population. Historically, Mexican Americans have been referred to as either Chicanos, Mexicanos, Hispanos, Spanish-Americans, or Spanish-speaking people (Naylor, 1998).

There are those who consider themselves as ‘Americans,' others identify themselves as Latin-Americans, others as Mexican-Americans, Chicano, Hispanics, ‘not Americans by choice,' Mexicans first, Americans second’, and Hispano. Hispanics specifically refer to a cultural heritage that is related to Spain, though many speak Spanish, they are not truly of Spanish descent. Latino is used to referring to those people who originated from Latin America (Naylor, 1998). Mexican is a term appropriately used to refer to the Mexican citizens who visit or work in the United States. The ‘not Americans by choice’ are those who became American citizens after approximately 50% land that was Mexico before got appropriated by the United States as spoils of war.

The ‘Mexicans first, Americans second ‘are those who consider themselves to be in the US temporarily due to economic circumstances. Mexican-American is a term used to refer to the US citizens who are descendants of Mexicans. Hispano refers to a subpopulation which is mainly located in the Southwestern region of the United States who descended from Spanish settlers. Chicano is used to refer to a unique culture of many Mexican-Americans (Naylor, 1998). This group has a stronger orientation to their Mexican origin and as such are less assimilated to the American culture.

Cultural norms

The different phases in the Mexican history have resulted in a complex culture. Mexican American culture remained a tenuous site for cultural exchange, always a prelude to the extractions of a purely Mexican or purely American stance (Sanchez, 1993). Mexicans have a very strong sense of identity and find it essential to preserve their culture even away from home. The first generation Mexican Americans have either, or both of their parents coming from Mexico. This results in the attempt of the parent(s) to try and preserve their Mexican culture in their children, which explains the strong affiliation to this culture. They, however, adapt to the American culture out of the need to blend with their peers both in school as well as their neighborhoods.

The cultural orientation of the Mexican-Americans is a blend of both the USA and Mexico. Their culture has been influenced by aspects of other nations as well, as a result of the presence of other ethnic groups living in America. The American culture has also influenced their culture to a large extent out of necessity. Mexicans don’t like to be addressed by their first names unless there is a prior permission to do so. When waving to them, you should not raise your hands high as this will be taken as an offense to them (Sanchez, 1993). When greeting, use the terms Señor for male, Señora for married female and Señorita for unmarried female. Greet by handshakes, always starting with the oldest people first. Whatever you do, do not point at a person as this is considered disrespectful. When talking, do not raise your voice, as Mexican people are soft spoken.

When Mexican nods, they may not necessarily agree with your point of view but are simply expressing respect. When in a conversation, personal distances are close and should be about 1.5 to 4 feet, or 0.5 t0 1.2 meters. You should not step back as this is regarded as unfriendly. It is common for women to greet each other with a kiss or hug even if they are meeting for the first time (Sanchez, 1993). Between men and women, handshakes are used. Upon meeting and on leaving, men shake hands. In handshakes, women offer hands first. More importance is given to personal obligations and as such, punctuality is not strictly adhered to.

Traditionally, in Mexico, men are the breadwinners and can therefore leave their homes freely for whatever reason while women are expected to stay at home and be homemakers, caring for the children and the home. Mexicans use Machismo and marianismo to describe the different gender roles. Machismo refers to the manliness where men are expected to be independent and the head figure in the home. Marianismo is femininity, and the woman is expected to be virtuous, restrained, modest and nurturing. The ‘now’ is more important for Mexicans and time is not very important. Interrupting a conversation for whatever reason is considered as rude (Clauss-Ehlers, 2010). When approaching others or joining in a conversation, it is good manners not to start directly contributing to the conversation unless invited to do so. Doing otherwise is considered as lacking in manners. Mexican American youth with a strong ethnic identity as Mexicans may experience conflict as they juggle the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the dominant culture.

Language

Bilingualism has been prevalent in the Mexican American language (Martínez, 2006). The majority of the first generation Mexican-Americans first migrated to the United States and moved to those areas which were already populated by people of their heritage with whom they were working together in the same jobs. There was therefore no urgent need for them to learn much English. Spanish is predominantly the main language spoken by the first generation Mexican-Americans.

Education

Among the youth groups in the American population, first-generation Mexican-American youth is the least likely to be in school particularly those between sixteen to twenty years of age. This can be attributed to various reasons. Mexican Americans have had the smallest number of college graduates of all subgroups in the United States (Peña, 2012).The first reason is because of the lack of both economic and social resources necessary for the acquisition of the formal education. The immigrant parents have a poor socio-economic status and are not well versed with the American educational system which affects the school enrollment of their children. When these children are lucky to be enrolled in school, they face another challenge from these schools. Their circumstances create a big disparity between them and other students, and even lead them to have weak relationships with their teachers.

The schools are not well equipped to cater for such disparities as the system is designed to cater for students in general. This makes it difficult for them to cope and will thus end up dropping out of the schools. This initial disadvantage results in lower school enrollment levels as well as high dropout rates. In future, this becomes an obstacle in securing them chances for stable employment. Mexican-Americans, who are the largest and fastest growing Hispanic subgroup in the United States, have the lowest rates of educational attainment compared with other groups (Schhneider & Ownes, 2006).

Parents use a more responsibility-oriented as well as authoritative style with less permissiveness in rearing their children. This results in less confidence and independence when such children are introduced to their peers from different cultural backgrounds in school. The early childhood programs in America do not serve the first generation Mexican Americans well. It is discriminated against the minorities who are not fluent in the English language as it is designed to suit the needs of the mainstream American child (Schhneider & Ownes, 2006). The first generation Mexican American children have not been exposed to the English language at home as it is their second language. When they attend the early childhood programs, English language prevails. This gives them a challenge, and it is difficult for them to cope with the teachers as well as other children who are already far much ahead in the language.

Some activities that children go through prepare them for formal learning later in school. Reading to children enhances their language acquisition, reading performance, and social development. This is not typical of the parents of the first generation Mexican Americans due to their cultural background (Marquez, 2008). As such, the children are ill-equipped when they start school as compared to their other counterparts who have been introduced to reading earlier in life, which is normal for mainstream American children. A weak teacher-student bonds, as well as a weak bond between the student and other students, makes the student not to feel like part of the school community. This will make them lack the motivation to pursue school education.

However, there are negative attitudes towards the minority groups in schools. Teacher, as well as student stereotypes of minority students, a first generation Mexican Americans included, has a negative effect on the first generation Mexican American students. The English language is used in American schools. It is, therefore, necessary for the first generation Mexican Americans to be well conversant with it in order to integrate successfully in the schools (Schhneider & Ownes, 2006). The first language is automatically acquired when a child listens to sounds, imitates them and starts producing sounds.

The second language is acquired through six distinct stages namely: pre-production, early production, speech emergent, beginning fluency, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. Parents have a role to play in their children's education particularly their participation in literacy activities, in order to prepare their children for later schooling. However, the first-generation Mexican American children, especially those whose both parents speak Spanish, are less likely to be involved in literacy programs at home, for example, being read to by their parents. For example, most of the first generation Mexican Americans speaks Spanish as their first language and then English becomes their second language (Schhneider & Ownes, 2006).

Socialization

Individuals who have lower acculturation, more recent generation level, and higher Mexican identity would have higher scores on the Latino cultural socialization scale and lower scores on the United States cultural socialization scale (Romero, 2016). The first generation Mexican Americans have a strong cultural orientation to Mexico and therefore socialize in more or less the same ways as the Mexican population with a smaller deviation level to the American culture. They have a strong ethnic identity with their Mexican culture and Family is given much importance. Parents of first-generation Mexican-Americans teach their children about their Mexican culture and therefore, instill ethnic pride. Their Mexican cultural background has a strong influence on them.

Inclusion

Institutional barriers, persistent discrimination, punitive immigration policies and a reliance on cheap Mexican labor in the Southwestern states have made integration more difficult for Mexican Americans. The education system has not taken into account the fact that such minority groups as the First generation Mexican Americans need to be assimilated into the mainstream education system and thus design a system that will take into account their disparities. This in turn aggravates their disadvantages, denying them the sense of belonging, and results to weak relationships with their teachers, which creates a disabling environment for educational prosperity.