Haitian and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Migrants: Implications for Florida Educators

1. Haitian and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Migrants: Implications for Florida Educators María D. Alvarez, Ph.D. School Psychologist alvaremd@gm.sbac.edu Center for Latin American Studies and Clay County Schools 6 February 2010

2. Workshop Objectives • Background Information on the Caribbean • Overview of Caribbean migration to the U.S. and inter-island migration • Overview of Haitian migration to the U.S. • From Haiti to Florida • Family Transformations • Schooling Issues

3. Workshop Objectives (cont) • Overview of Puerto Rican migration to Central Florida • Caribbean family systems • Framework for analyzing family stresses and support systems

4. Florida and the Caribbean

5. Haiti: A Mountainous Country

6. Comparative Population Statistics Territory sq.miles pop pop/sq.mi Haiti 10,714 9,035,536 843 Florida 58,560 18,300,000 313 Puerto Rico 3,435 3,971,020 1,156 Dom. Rep 18,816 9,650,054 513 Cuba 42,827 11,451,652 267

7. Foreign-born Haitians in the U.S. AreaNumber Percent United States 419,317 100.0 Florida 182,224 43.5 New York 125,475 29.9 Massachusetts 33,862 8.1 New Jersey 31,963 7.6 Rest of U.S. 45,793 10.9 Source: U.S. Census 2000

8. Total Population of Haitians in the U.S. • Total population of Haitians in the U.S. (foreign-born and U.S. born) is 735,233, +/- 29,491 (USCB, 2006 Community Survey). • Total estimated by community leaders comes closer to 1 million.

9. Haitian immigrants over time by type of immigrant

10. Migration Stages • 1960s & early 1970s: • Mostly middle class Haitians, escaping Duvalier (Papa & Baby Doc) regimes. • Focused on northeastern hubs. • Late 1970s/early 1980s: • Boat people. • Substantial migration to South Florida begins. • FL Haitians cluster in Dade, Broward, Palm Beach Counties.

11. Haitian Age Structure in South Florida • Haitian pop in South FL is young: • 20% < 14 • 42% between 30 and 44 • <6% >55 • Population grows more from immigration than from new births.

12. Top 5 Languages Spoken by ELLs in Florida • Spanish (76%) • Haitian Creole (12%) • Portuguese (2%) • French (1%) • Vietnamese (1%) • All others languages (8%)

13. Facts about ELLs in Florida • ELLs constituted 9.9% of public school enrollment in 2000 (Kindler, 2002) • Growth of ELL student population from 93-94 to 03-04 = 94.9% • Decrease of general student population from 93-94 to 03-04 = -10.3% • 50.9% of Florida public school teachers instructed ELL students in 1999-2000.

14. Family: Overview of Issues • Conjugal union types • Household composition • Child care arrangements • Family support systems • Economic contributions of family members • Discipline and parental authority • Health-seeking behaviors • Relation to schools

15. Conjugal Union Types Rural Haiti Florida Legal marriage the norm Immigration requirements New variants of marriage Mariaj rezidans Mariaj bay bous Mariaj biznis Mariaj de gaudin Polygamy unacceptable • Common law unions (plasaj) are the statistical norm • Legal marriage (civil or religious) often come later in life • Polygamy socially acceptable

16. Household Composition Haiti Florida Extended kin under the same roof. Young children may be absent. Children may not be living with their parents. Family members at various stages of adaptation to U.S. to the family unit • Mostly nuclear family kin • “gran moun pa ret ak gran moun.” • May live in same compound (lakou) next door to extended kin. • Missing members who have emigrated. • In urban areas, many servant children “restavek”

17. Child Care Arrangements Haiti Florida Child care a major dilemma for parents that may have two jobs Child care options Leave/send back child to Haiti Bring kin to live w. the family Family, church, school, or commercial day care Latch-key child Leave child at sitter’s home Overnight or M-F • Child care a family affair • Older children care for younger children • Elderly kin serve as caretakers • Non-kin assigned child care duties • Paid: maid (bonn) • Unpaid: child servant (restavek)

18. Family Support Systems Haiti Florida Increased importance of personal and family-level resources Finding a place to stay Finding a job “Learning the ropes” Increased reliance on community-level resources Churches Schools/After-school Community agencies • Reliance on personal-level and family-level resources • Low availability of community-level resources

19. Economic Contributions of Family Members Haiti Florida Most jobs secondary and informal sector Active contributions by parents and teens Income –generating work by parents Income-generating work by teens In –kind contributions by children Remittances sent back to Haiti • Active contributions expected of all family members • Income-generating work by parents • Females play active role in income-generating activities • In-kind contributions by children and teens • Cooking/doing dishes • Cleaning, fetching water • Child care

20. Discipline and Parental Authority Haiti Florida Harsh talk and discipline incompatible with U.S. child-rearing and school practices. Intergenerational clashes re. parental authority Corporal punishment banned from schools Legal action against harsh punishment. • Discipline measures and lines of authority clearly delimited. • Commands stated in no uncertain terms. • Corporal punishment used widely. • Corporal punishment also used by teachers in schools.

21. Health-Seeking Behaviors Haiti Florida Reliance on home and purchased remedies. Less use of endogenous healers. Curative services sought late in illness or at ER • Heavy reliance on home remedies. • Reliance on endogenous healers. • Modern care sought for accident/injuries or persistent illness.

22. Schooling: Overview of Issues • Language of instruction • Instructional strategies • Structural characteristics of schools • Age/grade compatibilities • Discipline and authority • Expectations re. parental involvement

23. Language of Instruction Haiti Florida Instruction in English “sink or swim” approach Various levels of support for English acquisition ESOL pullout programs ESOL push-in programs Bilingual/trilingual monoliterate programs in other parts of U.S. • Instruction may be in French (urban) • Instruction may be in Creole (rural) • Instruction may be in both French and Creole

24. Instructional Strategies Haiti Florida Discovery learning emphasized Divergent thinking encouraged Visuals, audials, computers, decentralize instruction away from the teacher Little homework in primary grades • Verbatim memorization expected • Convergent thinking encouraged • Learning centralized on the teacher • Few classroom resources • Much homework expected

25. Characteristics Haiti Florida School size is large, especially high schools Class size is small Formal, large buildings Uniforms only required in parochial schools Books/supplies provided by public schools • School size is small, children known by name • Class size is large • Open-air and makeshift schools • Uniforms required in most schools • Books/school supplies provided by students

26. Age/grade Compatibilities Haiti Florida Age/grade correspondence rigid Grade repetition discouraged Multi-age restricted • Age/grade correspondence fluid • Grade repetition widespread • Multi-age classrooms

27. Discipline and Authority Haiti Florida Multiple authority figures besides teacher Deans, BRT, AP Corporal punishment banned Variety of disciplinary actions Classroom discipline systems Time-out, office referrals ISS, OSS, work-detail Tiers 1, 2, 3 measures • Teachers expected to require, impose, enforce discipline • Corporal punishment allowed • Lack of academic preparation considered infraction

28. Parental Involvement Haiti Florida Parents are viewed as partners in education. Involvement expected; lack of it perceived as indifference Work schedules, hourly wages, language barriers militate against involvement • Teaching is left to educators • Involvement not expected and considered interference

29. Challenges Faced by Haitians in Florida • Bad press (boat people, TB, AIDS, voodoo), though earthquake has elicited an outpouring of good will towards Haiti and Haitians • Prejudice and discrimination, even by other Haitians • Attain job mobility: Secondary & Informal sector to more skilled, stable, higher-paying jobs. Gradually being recognized as reliable, eager workers.

31. Hispanics in Florida (arranged by order of prominence) • Cubans (ca. 1 million) • Puerto Ricans (ca. 600,000) • Colombians • Nicaraguans • Mexicans • Venezuelans • Dominicans

32. Patterns of Puerto Rican Migration to Florida • 1940s: Small number of agricultural business owners • 1950s: Migration shifts to working class and seasonal workers for vegetable harvests • 1960s: Puerto Ricans respond to real estate promotions and begin settling into Central Florida from island and mainland (NY, NJ, IL) • 1970s: Sugar cane workers, plus white collar workers.

33. Patterns of PR migration to Florida (cont.) • 1980 and 1990s: Disney World and expansion of Orlando area attracts steady influx from both island and mainland Puerto Rican hubs. • 2000s: Orlando becomes 4th U.S. city in terms of numbers of Puerto Ricans, after NY, Philadelphia, and Chicago, followed by Miami and Tampa/St Pete. Census reports 482,027 Puerto Ricans in Florida. • 2003: Census reports 571,755 Puerto Ricans in Florida, largest Hispanic group in Central Florida.

34. Largest clusters of Puerto Ricans in Florida (2003) • Orlando area 206,000 • Miami-Dade & Broward 155,000 • Tampa Bay/Hillsborough 68,000

35. Percentage over 5-y-o who Speak a Language other than English at Home • Miami-Dade 70% • Osceola 42.2% • Orange 31.4% • Hillsborough 24.4% • Alachua 12.0% • Clay 8.9%

36. When Compared to Island or Mainland Puerto Ricans, Central Florida Puerto Ricans are: • Better educated (74% had completed H.S.; median school years = 13 vs. 12 for island) • Show higher English proficiency (63% speak English well vs. 28% in island) • Predominantly white-collar workers (53% employed in administrative support, technical, service, managerial, real-estate, trade, )

37. Challenges Faced by Puerto Ricans in Central Florida • Despite achievements, lower income, lower ed levels, lower representation in upper economic echelons than other Hispanics. • Most children not fluent in English when they arrive from PR. In 2000-01, 21% of children receiving language enrichment services in Orange County were Puerto Rican. • High school dropout rates • More reported illnesses than other Hispanics

38. Caribbean Family Systems • Nuclear Family • Three-generation (g’parents, aunts/uncles) • Extended Family (a variety of kin) • Salad-bowl family (usually mother w. children of several unions) • Blended family (parents & their children plus children of previous unions) • One-parent family (mother, aunt, or older sister with children)

39. Caribbean Family Systems (cont) • Accordion families (mom or dad absent for long periods of time due to seasonal work; family has two modalities) • Two-person families (adult/child) • Families with ghosts (parent lost to death, divorce, separation but still present) • Host families (families that incorporate an unrelated child, given or informally “adopted.” In Haiti this may be a restavek child)

40. Structure & Process of Family Functioning

41. Support Systems of Family Functioning

42. Bibliography • Carrasquillo, A.L. (1991). Hispanic children and youth in the United States: A resource guide. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. • Duany, J. & Matos-Rodriguez. (2006). Puerto Ricans in Orlando and Central Florida. Available at http://www.centropr.org. • Stepick, A. (1998). Pride against prejudice: Haitians in the United States. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. • Suarez-Orozco, C. & Suarez-Orozco, M. M. (2001) Children of immigration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.