Education of Children of Illegal Immigrants - Research Paper Example

Children of illegal immigrants and Education In the last two decades, there has been an exponential growth of children of illegal immigrants born in the United States. Approximately 15% percent of the U.S children are of immigrant parents, this number is expected to increase in the coming decades. For a long time most of the scholarly studies have focused on the adult immigrants while neglecting their off springs. This has created a gap in knowledge of the new second-generation socioeconomic circumstances. The statistics according to the 2000 census shows that 90% of children with native parents complete high school while only 62% of children of immigrant parents complete high school (Caps et al. 5). In turn, this has placed them at a disadvantage especially in the job market. A greater percentage of the 62% is of children whose parents are legal immigrants. A survey of five counties in 2004 revealed that 45% of US born children had undocumented parents and the studies further revealed that the education levels of children of legal immigrants were much higher than that of children of illegal immigrants born in US (Caps et al. 6). This has been attributed to the fact that children of illegal immigrants born in US are likely to be faced with higher levels of poverty, which hinders their academic progress as most of them are forced to drop out of school to work. This study seeks to explore medical, psychological, emotional and economic factors contributing to a wide gap in education between children of illegal immigrants born in U.S.A and children of the natives, in order to equip the illegal immigrant parents with a better understanding of what challenges these children are going through so that they can help in bridging the gap in education between their children and those of the natives. High Poverty levels among children of illegal immigrants Most illegal immigrants have either one of the parent or both parents undocumented and as a result, the parents settle for a low-income job. Most of the children also come from a two parent families and in most cases, one of the parents is likely to be unemployed. Usually, the income or wages are also lower for immigrants as compared to the natives and this may limit the parent from providing better education to their young children (Fuligni and Yoshikawa 13). Sometimes children are forcefully obligated to drop out of school to work in order for them to cater for their basic needs. Undocumented parents may also be reluctant to approach organizations that can aid in financing their children’s education for fear of deportation as opposed to the legal immigrants who can freely ask for financial aid (Capps et al. 12). The other contributory factor is that majority of the illegal immigrant women are less likely to work and because most of them are in the child – bearing age, they are more likely to have more children as opposed to the working class women. As a result, the parents of these immigrant children may find it difficult to finance the education of their many children (Tanakshi 24). Poor educational background of parents of illegal immigrants children Most illegal immigrant parents have less formal education as compared to the native parent. Studies indicate that thirteen percent of parents of immigrant children have less than grade nine educations and a greater percentage lack a high school diploma. The spectrum of higher education also indicates that parents of native children are better educated than the immigrants (Fix and Jeffrey 36). Therefore, this implies that the children of the natives are more likely to be inspired by their parent’s achievements and follow their example or the parents may also be of great assistance especially if the children are having problems with their homework. The studies further indicate that six out of every ten parents of immigrant children are not proficient in English and that a quarter of the immigrant children have at least one of the parents who speaks another language apart from English at home (Capps et al. 10). On the contrary, for most natives English is the only language spoken at home and therefore their children tend to be very proficient in English as opposed to the immigrant children and are thus likely to perform better in school. The lack of proficiency of the English language among the children may also cause communication barriers or inability to express themselves well in school and this may lead to low self-esteem. The studies also indicate that majority of the children come from linguistically isolated households and this may negatively affect their studies (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network 1073). Immigrant children likely to be in poor health Most children from illegal immigrant families are less likely to be insured and thus are likely to be in poor health since most of them do not have access to good health facilities. They are also unlikely to have a regular place where they go for checkups or a place where they have preventative health care and considering most of their parents are low income earners they are less likely to afford good health services in cases where the children are ill (Fuligni and Yoshikawa 20). Studies indicate that at least seventy percent of the immigrant children are in poor health, which is not the case with children of the natives as most of them have access to better healthcare services and are thus able to concentrate more on their studies. For the immigrant children, their poor health may negatively affect their studies and even lead to them dropping out of school (Capps et al. 25). Studies also indicate that children of the immigrants under the age of six years are less likely to be regularly scheduled in childcare institutions as compared to those of the natives. This has been attributed to difference in cultural values and family structure. Most illegal immigrant parents also face barriers to childcare access because of cost, legal status, language barriers and eligibility for subsidies. Studies reveal that there is a strong relationship between parental level of education and enrolment of children in center based care (Leighton et al. 28). The studies also suggest that most educated parents who have spent four years in college are more likely to enroll their children in center-based healthcares as opposed to those parents who have poor education background. A survey of the least educated families revealed that in the least educated families, the number of parents who enrolled their children in center-based healthcare was still higher in natives than in immigrant families. These studies therefore imply that the children of the illegal immigrants are least likely to be enrolled in center-based childcare (Shetterly et al 1800). Psychological frustrations The trend currently is that undocumented immigrants earn less than those who are legal and are ineligible for public benefits for fear of interacting with government agencies. This in turn puts the children at a disadvantage since most of them always feel out of place or as intruders since they are not able to enjoy the benefits other children are enjoying (Capps et al. 20). The kids in turn end up growing with many frustrations or having low self-esteem since they always feel unwanted. In some cases these children end up facing discrimination from their peers in school both because of their socio – economic status or language proficiency and because of this kills their morale causing them to drop out of school. The other cause of frustration among these children is that since most of their parents are not well educated, they may be participating in criminal activities that their children may not be proud of and hence end up feeling embarrassed or inferior in the event that their peers talk about their parent’s careers and achievements. This may cause them to have negative attitude towards school and in turn lead to them dropping out of school (Zambrana and Zoppi 37). The children also lack self-motivation as most of them always keep justifying their poor performances by saying they do not have the privileges similar to those of the other students. Some keep justifying poor performance with excuses like ‘I was not born here, so I cannot perform well as they are performing’ or I do not have the same privileges they have, so I cannot make it in life (Capps et al. 19). This makes them to be always on the wrong side of the school regulations as they are not able to hand in their assignments on time or they deliberately ignore instructions given to them by their teachers. Recommendations The number of children of illegal immigrant parent has been on the upward trend and the plight faced by these children cannot be ignored simply because they are children of illegal immigrants. Since the children are still part of United States and they represent the future generation of the United States. Undocumented parents are usually not entitled or eligible for public benefits and that is a contributing factor to the problems their children are facing. If the wide education gap between the natives’ children and illegal immigrants children is allowed to persist, there is a high risk of the young children poor overall wellbeing and poverty being high. It is therefore advisable for the parents to push for the resolution of the debate by congressional representatives on whether to provide legal status for undocumented immigrants as the lives of their children who are born in this country and are citizens of this are dependent on the decision made (Capps et al. 37). This matter should therefore be handled with care as the challenges faced by children with undocumented parents have long-term consequences. The other factor that contributes to poor performance by children in school is the lack of English language proficiency by the parents (Fuligni and Yoshikawa 32). The illegal immigrant parents should make every effort to learn the English language. This can be done by taking up English proficiency classes to help them learn the language. This will make it easier for them to communicate to their children and encourage them to perform better in class as they will no longer experience language barriers. The children of undocumented parents are also likely to suffer higher levels of poverty and economic hardships (Leighton et al. 20). This has been attributed to the fact that undocumented immigrants tend to earn less money, than the native parents and this makes them unable to support their children both financially and health wise. The illegal immigrant parents should not shy off from approaching charity organizations to assist in financing their childrens’ education. This is because once these children attain good education; they will be able to break the cycle of poverty in their families. The other issue that was of key concern was the fact that the children of illegal immigrants are rarely enrolled in care centers as opposed to children of natives especially the center-based care. There is no adequate research that has been done to show why most undocumented parents do not take their children to childcare centers. It is speculated that some of the reasons surrounding their decision could be language barrier, cultural beliefs insufficient income and public subsidies (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network 1074). The illegal immigrant parents should therefore take their children to the centre based healthcare as this will be of great benefit to their children. The parents should also allow the welfare of their children to take priority over cultural values. The parents should also try to develop strategies that can be used to lower the barriers that stops them from taking their children to centre based childcare. The other contributing factor could be the low unemployment levels of immigrant women, who sit back at home in order to take care of the children. The illegal immigrant parents need to encourage their women to work in order to boost the income level of the family. In relation to health and childcare, there is need for the illegal immigrant parents to find out the average cost of childcare and the availability of subsidies. These subsidies play a major role in determining the choice of childcare an immigrant parent is likely to choose. The parents should look for ways of ensuring that their children are well taken care of both through childcare and healthcentres. There is also need to ensure that their children have access to good medication, as this will help them to be healthy and in turn concentrate more in class. The children of immigrants and their parents should also participate in publicly funded childcare centers. There is also need to research on the outreach programs that can be used to encourage more parents of immigrant children to enroll in them. There is also need to define a care center that can be specifically used by children of immigrant parents. These child care systems should have high quality child care specifically meant for immigrant children as this will give them a sense of belonging and they may feel more at home and even honored and as a result increase the number of children of illegal immigrants being receiving child care (Capps et al. 29). The childcare centers can also be used as an avenue to strengthen language proficiency and acculturation. This may also offer a great opportunity for the immigrant’s children to interact with children from other ethnic background. This study explored factors contributing to low education levels of illegal immigrant’s children. These factors included; the income or wages are also usually lower for immigrants as compared to the natives and this may limit the parent from providing better education to their young children. The immigrant’s children have less formal education as compared to the native ones hence poor in English proficiency. Most children from illegal immigrant families are less likely to be insured and thus are likely to be in poor health since most of them do not have access to good health facilities and the children always feel out of place or as intruders since they are not able to enjoy the benefits other children are enjoying. The recommendations were; the parents to push for the resolution of the debate on whether to provide legal status for undocumented immigrants as the lives of many families of undocumented immigrants are dependent on the decision mad. The parents need to take up English proficiency classes to help them to be proficient in English, as this will make it easier for them to perform better in class, as they will not experience language barriers. The parents also need to come up with the best strategy to reach the immigrant women and encourage them to work in order to boost the income level of the family and the parents should also advocate for child care systems should have high quality child care specifically meant for immigrant children as this will give them a sense of belonging and they may feel more at home and also take their children to publicly funded child care systems.. Works Cited Capps, Randy, Michael Fix, Jason Ost, Jane Reardon-Anderson and Jeffrey Passel. “The well- being of young children of immigrants.” The Urban Organization, 8 Feb. 2005. Web .10 Nov 2011. Fix, Michael, and Jeffrey Passel. “The Scope and Impact of Welfare Reform’s Immigrant Provisions.” Assessing the New Federalism Discussion Paper No. 02-03. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. 2002. Print. Fuligni, Andrew and Hirokazu Yoshikawa. Socioeconomic Resources, Parenting, and Child Development among Immigrant Families. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.2003. Print. Leighton Ku, Michael Fix, Chris Furgiuele, Jeffrey S. Passel, Rajeev Ramchand, Scott McNiven, and Dan Perez-Lopez. How Are Immigrants Faring After Welfare Reform? Preliminary Evidence from Los Angeles and NewYork City—Final Report. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. 2002. Print National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network. “Child OutcomesWhen Child Care Center Classes Meet Recommended Standards for Quality.” American Journal of Public Health 89.7 (1999): 1072–77. Print. Shetterly, S.M., J. Baxter, L.D. Mason, and R.F. 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