Immigration in the Classroom - Diversity in U.S.A High Schools

The story of the American people is a story of immigration and diversity. The population of the United States is becoming increasingly diverse. The quality of looking different and having singular and unlike beliefs is what brings people from all over the world together to the United States. Without diversity, we wouldn't have historical figures like Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others. Variety is what makes the United States.
A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another can definitely encounter a lot of struggling. When children go to High school they are treated different in many ways. It must be hard to assimilate the newcomers. In some cases they do not have the knowledge on a matter that is very common for Americans, even though it’s not their fault because they are from a different country, but they will be judged and the students will make fun of them, forgetting that what is obvious for one is not for others, but the Caucasians will act as if the immigrants don’t know anything about fundamental information.
The particular approach that I strongly disagree is that immigrants have advantages comparing to an American student about their grades. “They are given less homework and rarely get failing grades if they demonstrate good-faith efforts. Also they are given more credit for class participation and on state standardized tests; they are offered accommodations unavailable to other students.” I believe that if they have been fighting to be taken care of equally, it has to be equivalent in all factors, from the skilled to the worthless tasks. Otherwise they will keep being unlike the other students and consequently discriminated. On the other hand, the issue in this case is that they can’t follow like the other all American students and some of the teachers have to stop the lesson to help, for instance a Latino that doesn’t understand the language. If this kid cannot keep up with the rest of the class, the teacher has to focus on that singular child and the mainstream students won’t learn. Even if they respect the immigrant they are losing their education time because of them. So the American parents dislike this situation, they think their kids are being exposed to a non-positive environment.
Background and tradition is very important for group formation in immigrant societies in this country. An immigrant High School student has to deal with many dilemmas. It’s not only the intolerance of the mainstream group of students. Many of them have a lack of tutoring from their families which results in terrible actions and decisions. All this rejection can make a teenager revolted against the system. They can turn to a gang who will do harm to the other students, many girls are pregnant and dealing with that naively, others are stealing to survive, and even the good kids have no choice but to help their parents doing cheap labor, such as construction and cleaning. One Latina student claimed: “If I am going to end up cleaning houses with my mother,” “why go to high school?” Many students end up quitting because of all the difficulties they meet.
It’s hard to find an agreement on the best way to teach immigrant students. It has to be a strategy that helps every race and nationality. Many children had little formal education in their home countries and end up in the 5th grade with no knowledge at all. This is actuality and the immigrants will keep facing many challenges, not only the main ones such as the English verbal communication and mores of a new social order, but the intellectual approval from the others, which will only come with great effort from both parts.
Immigration’s impact is often first seen in the classroom, according to The New York Times Graphic, enrollment of Hispanic and Asian students in American schools have increased by more than 5 million since the 1990s. My point of view is that multiculturalism is fundamental to our belief that all citizens are equal. Multiculturalism ensures that all citizens can keep their identities, can take pride in their ancestry and have a sense of belonging. Immigrants also enrich American communities by bringing aspects of their native cultures with them. What kind of a society would we build if we didn’t uphold such values and instead promoted racism and segregation? Furthermore, if we as a people are to live in total peace, then we ought to respect and learn about other cultures.

BABIES

The movie “Babies” is filled with contrast of ethnicities, customs, traditions and ways of life. The film realistically portrays four diverse mothers and the first months of their babies since their pregnancy until the baby first steps. It has no dialogues; it only focuses on the newborns on a daily basis livelihood. My observation is that a baby will laugh, dance or cry, no matter what circumstances.
The most deplorable way of life is in Namibia. First of all poverty is exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The poorest households are those headed by women. Clearly there’s simplicity in regards to how to live life, day by day. Something pure to observe is that a mom will be a mom everywhere. In Opuwo, the mom will clean the kid with her tongue. There is no potable water to give to the babies, which will drink off anything possible. Evidently there are no filtered showers. Inadequate access to land and water lead to extremely precarious lives and the chances are that the children will suffer from severe poverty forever. They have no sense of education even though the mother tries to teach how to say “mom”. They learn to walk on the dirty ground, they eat raw dog meat as a substitute for animal protein. They look fragile and will suffer of starvation certainly. Flies are on them all the time. The only way for the Opuwo kid to go from one place to another is in the back of his mother, that’s the “transportation”. If the baby needs a haircut, the mother will do it with a sharp knife. The Namibian baby is always putting rocks in his mouth. They have no health access. Everything is of inferior quality comparing to an urbanized society.
The baby in Mongolia faces very precarious situations, such as being hold by a rope to not go out of the bedroom, also, unsupervised bath leading to a filthy animal drinking out of the water, chicken on the bed, and more. It’s sad to watch the transition when the toddler in San Francisco is playing on a rug cleaned by a vacuum, or happily in the Jacuzzi and learning from books, not knowing how lucky he is for having plenty water, toys, fruits, and all the schooling to come. The babies in Tokyo and in San Francisco have more similar activities, even though the day care in San Francisco seems more civilized than the one in Japan.
In Mongolia, the baby receives a nurse visit to check the weight and health of the little one. It is common to swaddle a baby. It seems to be done to keep the baby warm and comfortable but it looks like they are hurting the newborn. The Mongolian infant toddle in the middle of the cow’s defecation, but comparing to the baby in Namibia that has nothing at all, that’s not a big deal. The baby in San Francisco can regularly go to the doctor and have the best conditions and treatments.
Siblings will be the same all around the globe. Bayar’s older brother (Mongolian family) just likes to play and bother around, the same happens in Namibia, the babies have zero belongings, and they will fight for a small piece of craft. They feel the same way, no matter where. It’s noticeable that the four kids have their own magical experiences with nature, since that’s a beautiful stage and everything is unique.