The Mexican Immigration Experience

1. TheMexicanImmigrationExperience Education 308 Presentation

2. Personal Interviews • 4 adult ELL studentsinterviewed, ranging in agefrom late 20s –mid 40s • Askedthefollowingquestions: • Where are you from originally (city, region)? • How long have you been in the U.S.? • What does a typical day look like for you? • What kind of jobs have you worked? • Why you leave your country? • Why did you choose to come to the United States? • How long have you been in the U.S.? • Are you first or second generation immigrants? • How were you received/treated in the U.S.? Any specific stories?

3. ReasonsandConsequences • RationaleforleavingMexico • Forwork (lessqualityjob, butbetterpayhere) • Becausetheparentssaid so • Short-termor long-term • Fromwhere? Towhere? How long?

4. AssimilationIssues • Identity and labeling (p. 309). • No upward mobility (p. 61) • Transitional bilingualism (p. 67) • Dissonantacculturation (p. 308) • Educationalattainment • low percent of gifted students p. 82-83 • state’s academic elite – 14% Latino compared to half white, 28% Asian p. 84 • Parental support

5. Reception • “While first-generation immigrants may have readily accepted these jobs as a ticket to life in America, their offspring are keenly aware of their stigmatized character” (p. 312) • “Their children, the second generation, may well outnumber immigrant Latinos in the workforce within a decade or two. But it is not at all clear what economic role they will play” (p. 86)  • “if decent jobs in the middle are not there, it could turn out to be positively ugly” (p. 86)

6. Familyandcommunitydynamics • “they lack the web of organizations and social practices that have allowed specific groups to utilize traditional culture to help children achieve” (p. 57) • “Although Mexican parents do stress the importance of education, immigrant family processes often militate in the opposite direction” p. 79

7. FutureImplicationsforSecondGeneration • Influenceoffirstgeneration status onthesecond • Expectationsandstereotypes (p. 59)

8. HealthcareandPsychologicalHealth Attitudes and Access

9. Mexican Immigrants Access to Health Care • 5-year-old Sandra Navarette died of chicken pox • Her parents were undocumented immigrants from Mexico • By the time they took Sandra in for treatment it was too late • Why didn’t they seek care sooner? • They did not know where to go • They did not speak English • They had little money

10. Healthcare Socioeconomic status US Census 2006 • % living in belowpovertylevel: Allraces: 16.9%, White alone: 13.6%, Hispanic: 26.6% Languageand cultural barriers Health Access

11. Health Access (2005)

12. PsychologicalHealthandResilience • Loss, grief, andmourning • The rippleeffect • Eachfamily has an “ecologicalniche” (Falicov, p. 275) • Transnationallifestyles • Familyseparation, boundaryambiguity • Whois in? Whois out?

13. Onthe Individual Level • A multitudeof variables • “Cumulative” or “tension” trauma (p. 290) • Psychologicalstresses • “Between cultures” (p. 291) • Thespectrum: Preimigration----------------- Host society

14. gg External Influences InternalInfluences

15. PsychologicalHealthofChildren • Racial, ethnic, andclassdiscrimination • “Social climateofstructuralexclusionandpsychologicalviolence” (Falicov, p. 281) • Social mirroring • Promotingdemocraticparticipationofparents in education

16. Four Factors of the General Structure of the Behavioral Model • Predisposing Factors • Need Factors • Enabling Factors • Relevant Contextual Factors

17. Predisposing Factors • These factors influence a person’s preferences or likelihood of seeking or not seeking health care. • These variables include: • Age (and Diabetes) • Gender • Education • Acculturation • Marital Status • Family Size • Nativity

18. Need Factors • Predisposing Factors also encompass help-seeking behavior among relevant social groups. • Need factors deal with an individual’s health status. • Need factors encompass the term: • Medical Need or Perceived Need

19. Enabling Factors • These factors determine a person’s access to care, whether a person is more likely or less likely to obtain care. • Enabling Factors include: • Knowledge of the health care system • Family Income • Health Insurance Coverage • Effects on child access to care • Language

20. Relevant Contextual Factors • Relevant Contextual Factors focus on determining where facilities for care may be needed the most. • Relevant Contextual Factors include: • The structure/capacity of the health care safety net • The availability of health care providers • The percentage of the population that is uninsured • Demographic characteristics of the local population

21. Social Networks • Social networks are the contacts individuals have with other people in a group to which they belong. • Social networks are especially beneficial to Mexican Immigrants when it comes to gaining access to health care.

22. Family Roles in Access to Health Care • Family plays a role in three main ways: • 1. Financial access to health care is most often family based. • 2. Children learn certain patterns of healthcare use by their parents. • 3. Relatives are a good source of information, family aid, and advice with which individuals will make their health care decisions upon.

23. Families and Social Networks • Families serve as a social bridge between the information they have about the formal medical care system and the individual family member.

24. CalltoAction: DecreasingBarriersAre wemovingtowardsculturallycongruentcare? • Bilingual staff and cultural competency • Educationalseminars in nativelanguage • Addresshealthliteracy • Strategies: • Linguistic • Constituent-involving (self-dependence) • Sociocultural • Peripheral • Evidential (Whittmore, p. 165)

25. CulturallyCongruent Care Culturally congruent care has been defined as: those cognitively based assistive, supportive, facilitative, or enabling acts or decisions that are tailor made to fit with individual, group, or institutional cultural values, beliefs, and lifeways in order to provide or support meaningful,ben- eficial, and satisfying health care or well-being services. (Leininger, 1991, p. 49)

26. HealthandSchool: Cultural Correlations • Awareness • Sensitivity • Competence • Diversity ProviderLevel ClientLevel Outcome

27. How doeshealthaffectstudentattitudes, behaviors, andpreceptions? • In many cases, notstudents’ choice • Attitudestowardsseekingcare SchoolOutcomes: • Lowerattendance • Apathytowardshealthaffects performance • Cultural differencesmust be respected

28. Education

29. Education in Mexico • 1867 Benito Juarez made primary education nonreligious, free and obligatory • 1992 government changed Constitution that required education through the 9th grade for all students

30. Continued • Mexico struggles in educational failure • Drop out of schools after the 9th grade • Drop out of school to work to help support their families • The Indigenous people have a hard time at school because English is their second language • The dropping out of school is contributing to a higher rate of illiteracy

31. Curriculum in Mexico • Grade on a 1-10 scale • Tested 5 times a year on national curriculum but developed locally • At the end of the year, students take a national exam and if they score less than a 6 they are retained in the same grade for the next year

32. Continued • For grades 10-12 students must choose 1 of 4 professional areas • Physical-mathematics • Chemical-biological • Economic-administrative • Humanities

33. 2007 Educational Attainment

34. Basic Profile of Children From Mexican Immigrant Families • Socioeconomic status below average • Low Incomes Median Earnings • white= $62,712 • Black=$38,385 • Hispanic=$40,074 • Spanish is most frequently spoken • No organized educational experience • All of these factors can have negative effects on Mexicans Immigrants transition into Elementary schools. • First-Generation and Second-Generation

35. Success in academic schools is very important – SYSTEMIC • Mexican adult immigrants have only: few years of schooling, limited job skills, and little or no knowledge of English. • According to Suarez-Orozco, “Schooling has become a high-stakes goal for the children of immigrants… their only ticket for a better tomorrow.” • A study was done, Math Achievement, Mental Health, and Interpersonal Functioning of Mexican Immigrants were at lower levels in American schools. • School contexts are important for the lives of children. • Poverty, group size, historical depth, and racist stereotypes create barriers for school performances.

36. Mexican Immigrants status and family background effects school-enrollment patterns • Attendance can be an issue • School are still highly segregated • Different characteristics in how Mexican Immigrant families differ from one another • Mexican Immigrant socioeconomic status was lower than any other minority groups

37. Fastest growing ethnic subpopulations in the United States. Mexican High School Parents: • 31.5 % non- high school graduates. • 16 % general education diplomas • 25% high school graduates • 21% some college coursework • 8% four year college graduates • 74% no high school education • Lower achievement and higher dropout rate. • Immigrants from Central and South American tend to be better educated than Mexican Immigrants. • 50% of Mexican Immigrants showed to have at least a high school education compared to 71% of Cubans. • Mexican American males have a higher negative educational experiences

38. Parental involvement, student’s level of acculturation, and student’s self-esteem. • Studies show that parental involvement plays a significant role in academic success • Study showed that 77% of mothers spoke to their child regularly about school. Few parents rarely spoke to their child about school matters. 93 % occasionally talked to their child about their educational future. • Acculturation positive relationships with Mexican American adolescents academic performance. • Multiple cultures is the healthiest form of Acculturation. • Mexican Immigrants with high self-esteem are more likely to achieve in school.

39. AVANCE-Dallas early childhood education institution observes parents who have low academic backgrounds and their participation with school related task. • Parents with 1-6 years of education • Parents exhibiting positive attitudes • Parents who participate in their child’s learning, can help their children overcome their low education levels. • Checks and helps child’s school work • Talks to child about school experiences • Volunteers • Knows teachers • Talks about the importance of education • Reads to their child • Limits TV time • Often motivates child

40. Arrival in the United States • Mexican immigrant students are more likely to attend overcrowded, limited-resource urban schools with fewer certified teachers. • Students are assumed to be native Spanish speakers, but may in fact be minimally proficient in Spanish. • Students may have had no previous exposure to English upon entry into U.S. schools. • Immigration patterns show that incoming families move into relational and geographic enclaves due to social and economic forces.

41. A Different School Experience • Schooling in the United States is very different for Mexican immigrant students -children of immigrants can be at a disadvantage - In 2002, 20% of the population in Mexico had no schooling compared to 0.6% of the population in the U.S. • Not all Mexican immigrants had a proper education -access to the proper knowledge needed to succeed is limited -children are disadvantaged because they do not know the school system

42. A Different School Experience contd. • Mexican schools tend to be in rural areas that suffer due understaffing and limited learning materials

43. What can teachers do to help? • Teachers must: 1. Work with the school, students and parents 2. Tap into the family’s cultural capital and knowledge 3. Engage all involved in the educational process 4. Make information accessible

44. Consequences of Nonproficient English • Lower standardized test scores • Inability to read complex texts • Inability to decipher between conversational and academic English

45. Developing English Proficiency • Nonacademic conversational language skills can be learned within about 2 years, whereas academic language, which is less contextualized and more cognitively demanding, can take much longer to acquire • Children learning English as a second language need 4-7 years to develop academic language • Students need an estimated five additional years of schooling to become proficient in academic reading and writing, such as reading science or social studies textbooks, after reaching oral English proficiency.