Made in America: Chapter 7

Immigrant students face many difficulties when they move to the United States.  Not only are there many cultural differences that teachers are unaware of, but students may be academically unprepared (little to no literacy) to succeed at an American school.  As in the first example, cultural misunderstandings can be quite common with immigrant students.  Without the teacher having proper background knowledge, it can make an immigrant student's transition into American schools and cultures even more traumatic.  The added pressure to "fit in" makes it that much harder for students to perform successfully and at an appropriate level for their age grade.

To top it all off, many of these students are also facing difficult issues at home.  The book estimates that almost 40% of immigrants in California are undocumented which makes continuing education impossible or extremely difficult and also suggests that most of their families' financial stability is questionable.  Not only do these immigrant students have to deal with balancing their culture and values with American culture and values, but many are also forced to quit school and support their family.

I became increasingly upset while reading this chapter because it made me realize how ignorant teachers can be when it comes to school demographics.  Instead of viewing the ESL students as a group of kids that needed extra help in order to succeed, the teachers seemed to think of them as an inconvenience. In my opinion, this puts the students at an even greater disadvantage because they are not pushed as far as mainstream kids, not given the same opportunities for successful learning acquisition, nor are they expected to achieve much.  In one section, Olsen writes "continuing LEP students have been gloomily labeled "ESL Lifers" by staff" (154).  This absolutely disgusted me because it was a label created by the teachers.  How are we supposed to expect students to succeed when we've already stacked the deck against them?  As a teacher, part of our responsibility is to give our students the tools they need to succeed and to learn; it shouldn't matter if the student is mainstream, ESL, or special education.  All students deserve the best education we can offer.  It is unprofessional and irresponsible to give our students anything less and put what is easy before what they need/deserve.