Bitterly, There are more than seven million Latino children that are living in poverty, more than ever it’s showing that approximately about thirty-eight percent of poor children are Latino and twenty-four percent are black. Many don’t know that thirty-eight percent of poor kids are Latinos, and this is a huge number, we need to find a way to reduce this number. For a better society and a better life for Latino families and Latino children. Poverty is a huge issue for both the poor-income Latino immigrants and the poor-income Latino families that are originally born in the US, they are both dealing with the struggle of academics, however, the Latino immigrants are having it much worse. The reason why the immigrants are having it worse and struggling more is due to the language barrier they don’t understand the school system and how it works, filling up forms, or helping their kids with their studies Everything is in a different language. And most immigrant families don’t speak or understand the English language. so, the immigrant child depends on himself/herself from a young age. (Natalicio, 2018).
As an immigrant child, I remember returning home struggling with homework, and the struggle I had to face to finish and complete my homework in a different language. Especially with no help from anyone at home. Because no one understood the language and I was the oldest sibling. I remember staying up nights translating word by word from the dictionary just to understand and complete my homework. While other students had it much easier, homework wouldn’t take them more than one hour to complete. For us as immigrant/refugee students, it will take us much longer to complete our daily school homework. The problem with staying up all night; you won’t have enough sleep and when you have enough sleep you will not focus in class as the teacher is teaching and it will be much harder and harder for you as a student. One way to prevent this issue is to offer free tutoring programs after school for kids to complete their homework if they need help there is a tutor to ask and it will be much better if the tutor is bilingual so they can both understand.
Another issue that accounts for Latino education disparity is language barriers. Some children including Latino children do not speak the English language. This will in most cases interfere with their ability to adapt to schooling requirements. Social interactions are also highly limited and future academic success is almost impossible. A student who can’t speak the English language will have a harder time participating in class, presenting, and joining clubs and competitions. Opposite of students that speak the language perfectly. For example, if an immigrant student that wanted to join a science fair competition in school, but due to a language barrier and can’t speak English very well, he won’t be able to present to the judge his idea and he will struggle in presenting it So, he will more likely not win and this will crash the child’s morale.
Acculturation or cultural assimilation are also other factors that can make an immigrant child a successful child. What is acculturation based on what we learned in this course Acculturation is adapting to a new culture while keeping and practicing your original cultural values. It is also, learning a new language while still speaking your native language. If you raise a child who is bilingual and speaks your native language at home while at school he speaks the English language. You will more likely have a smart bilingual child, that will have better and higher chances of getting into better colleges and also, getting a job faster. Many jobs look for bilingual employees. Some parents once they start speaking the English language and their kids do as well, will no longer speak their native language and it will hurt the community we need more bilingual kids for our next generation to be there for those that will come and will have a hard time adapting to the culture and language we need them to be there to guide them to help them when help is needed and that is the beauty of this world when a hand is ready to offer help and ease their worry. Latino cultural values of importance are familism and marianismo.
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Focusing on Familism, familism is a beautiful concept and it’s very important in the Latino culture. Also, it is very important for every Latino to follow cultural values. However, familism may bring a little struggle for young Latinos, as it is very necessary to take care of the elderly dedicate your time to your family, and be loyal to them. It can bring a little stress to those who are studying and taking care of an elder family or sibling at the same time. Because it will take sometimes very much of their own time and hold them back from studying or completing their task of work. Another cultural value that Latinos focus on is marianismo and it is for females, it is obligatory for a female to take care of her family, and she has to self-sacrifice her time. Marianismo also has strict rules for females, It is very strict because it prevents her from participating in public events, joining after-school clubs, or even going on field trips without the parents' or family's consent. Both terms familism and marianismo can be a hassle, especially for the female, to complete her housework task and at the same time focus on her education and excelling. (Villarruel, 2009).
According to researchers, Latino students who come from a poor economic family will receive poor education. Due to the community, they are living in. If they live in a poor community they will have a hard time fitting in, the instructors or teachers are not highly qualified, and they also don’t have the same resources, technologies, and privileges as other schools they do not have enough funding for their school and this a problem that the schools and the students face. While other schools in different communities that have enough funding you’ll see that their test scores are higher, drop rates are lower and teachers and students are satisfied. (Maxwell-Jolly, 2006).
It has also, been shown by researchers, that the Latino nationality is the ethnic group with the most dropout rates and that they have very low scores on standardized exams in math, reading, and writing. This issue can be solved and helped by Focusing on early education for Latino children is really important, Researchers are also claiming that Latino families don’t tend to send their children to pre-school they don’t think it is important. As a teacher who worked in preschool and Pre-K, I have witnessed that students who started school as early as 3 years and 4 years old were advanced in their academic level as they started kindergarten, they were starting to read faster, they were able to spell wands. in math, they were able to add and subtract. While the other kids started school later at the age of 5 and never went to Pre-K, they were behind and it was hard for them to catch up with the others as they grow up they will still feel behind due to the start-up base. If the start-up base was strong they would have not struggled. So, I believe one of the most important steps into the success of Latino education is to educate Latino families about early education and why they should have their kids start school earlier. I believe if we educate parents and families we would receive a successful outcome for the upcoming generations.
Claiming that immigration is an issue and blaming it for the effect and the cause of the struggle of Latino students is not fully correct. Researchers have shown that Latino students in the twenty-first century have a better education than their uneducated parents and this is a good sign and hopefully, in the future, they will be more and more educated. Especially with the awareness that is coming up. We live in the twenty-first century and we have technologies most of us use/have social media accounts and we can bring awareness simply through social media if the language is a problem there are many websites that can translate for us and it’s much easier now to bring awareness and to educate others.
Education through technology; We can receive education simply from our home and that’s the benefit of technology. Many of us go to work for a living and we don’t have time to go to class, with today’s technology we can receive the same education that we would receive if we were to go to class. A simple example is myself as a student who had no idea about the struggle of Latinos and their lives I have learned so much right from home. After I come home from work I make myself dinner get in my comfy pajamas open up my class and start reading right from my room. Unbelievable, right? technology indeed has saved us time and money and with the benefit of technology, we can see successful progress in the education of Latinos.
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