Aculturation and assimilation

Acculturation & Assimilation Focus:

The Latino Population

The purpose of this work is to explore literature on acculturation and assimilation as it relates to the school system and the successful coping of educational, family and social factors of the Latino Population in the school system. Important factors are the perception of the school system by the Latino family, specifically in the disciplinary transfer students of middle school age.

William B. Yeats wrote, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." The Latino student comes to the classroom with a history of trauma that few American students will be ever to grasp. However, studies show that in spite of these experiences that the Latino students are "resilient, ambitious, and diligent in learning English." They tend to care about their studies and the parents have been shown to be more interested in their children's education than are other parents.

Literature Review of Latino Population:

The perspective of the teacher and school in their role of educating the Latino student is a role that must be cognizant to the fact that: "Learning does not take place in a social vacuum. It takes place in a social, political, and psychological contest." Empowering Families through Literacy, Arlington's program focuses toward, some of the challenges in the education, of the poor Latino children from families with inadequate literacy in relation to skills and knowledge. This program educates the parents in reading and writing while, at the same time, educating their children in reading.

Communities must provide youngsters with a caring and encouraging, and safe environment, and help them become optimistic about their personal future."

Unfortunately, this has not been the case. To effectively address this problem, it has been argued by Cummins that:

Educational stakeholders must undergo the difficult task of redefining their approaches, methods, and roles, not only in the classroom, but also in their dealing with their local communities as well as with the society at large. They must focus on more positive issues, such as the creative ways these youngsters have responded to the hardships and opportunities or which have been their main academic and non-academic accomplishments rather than focusing on their deficiencies and limitations. Building trust and working to instill confidence in their abilities and their prospect for a better future will provide the foundation for cultivating creative, critical thinkers. (Cummins, 1986)

Citing from Lucas, Henze, & Donato, 1990, the Project Overview for Home School Studies listed the following as a foundation in Latino families:

Latino immigrant families from Mexico and Central American express a deep and abiding belief in formal education as a means toward social and economic mobility and stability.

Immigrant Latino parents want to be involved in their children's schooling and they express considerable satisfaction when teachers make efforts to involve them in children's academic development; the possibility of productive home-school collaboration for this population of students is therefore considerable.

Parents views of what education -or in Spanish educacin -- compromises is much broader than formal schooling, it includes moral development and family responsibility.

Although parents greatly value academic development in general and literacy development in particular, children in immigrant families from Mexico and Central America typically have relatively few experiences at home that promote text-based literacy development as it is defined in school.

It is clear that Latino parents are interested in their children's education, perhaps more so than parents of other ethnic groups. However, the intentness on the student's behavior is stressed even more so than the actual academic achievement. Can this be used for positive effect and if so then how? Specifically, how in the situation of a transfer middle school student?

Utilizing the "Positives" in Cultural Perceptions and Differences

Studies and research has shown that transition to middle school effects students in the following areas:

Students exhibit decreases in self-esteem, academic achievement, and motivation." (Anderman et al., 1986; Asplagh et al., 1988; Blythe et al., 1983; Eccles et al., 1989; Harter et al., 1987; Wigfield et al., 1991).

The subject of transition of students, particularly Latino students to middle school has become one frequently discussed due to the complexity of the issues faced in the phenomena of transitional issues differences among students with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Over the last three decades the middle school has replaced junior high schools. There are 55% more middle schools that in the beginning of the decade of the seventies and the number is growing. This transition from elementary to middle school is inclusive of outcomes that are demonstrated by "behavioral problems" (Eccles et al., 1989) and "increases in psychological distress"(Chung et al., 1998; Crocket et al., 1989; Eccles et al., 1993).

Speculation for reasons linked to this dramatic transitional period for the student are listed as follows:

Mismatch between developmental needs and school ecology.

Dual timing of personal and ecological transitions.