Mexican-Americans

1. Mexican-Americans Amanda Amick, Katie Brazil, Stephanie Kostuck, Erika Richae

2. Rationales • Why do Mexican’s come to America? • Better Job Opportunities • Better Education • Better Health Care • Drug Violence • Family Ties

3. Better Job Opportunities • Mexican Immigrants occupational prospects are bleak • Lack education • Most likely become blue-collar workers • Limited Urban Job Skills

4. Better Education • Adult immigrants have only few years of schooling • Educational aspirations and expectations • Mexican youth have high aspiration of college. • Minimal education offered in U.S. • Mexican children do poorly in school-future looks unpromising • Minimal/No knowledge of English

5. Better Health Care • 6 in 10 illegal immigrants lack health insurance • Illegal immigrants tend to be younger and healthier than the adult U.S. population • Illegal immigrants are less likely to have health care provider • 4 in 10 Illegal immigrants go to community clinic or health center • Limitations prevent them from a regular provider • Financial limitations; lack of insurance; don’t need one; high medical costs in general

6. Drug Violence • Mexican immigrants seek asylum • 5,400+ people killed last year and 8,000+ in two years • Major source of conflict in U.S.-Mexican relations • Drug war claimed nearly 10,000 lives • Asylum-seekers has grown in past few years • Worst violence since the Mexican Revolution (1910)

7. Family Ties • Mexican’s are not just immigrants or U.S.-born children of immigrants. • These later generation Mexican-Americans’ experience are affected by current immigration • It’s tough to be a member of an ethnic group that is synonymous with immigration • Some see this continuous immigration as an opportunity

8. Assimilation • “Immigrant surges” • Replenish vocabulary and cultures • Ancestry • Ethnicity is very important • Deep sense of ancestry • Proximity • Homeland shares a border with the U.S. • Resistance • Intermarriage • Mexican print, electronic media, newspapers, etc.

9. Education • 67% U.S. born aspire to complete college • 60% hope to have a professional or managerial job • 10-20% will actually finish college • Why? • Perceptions of discrimination • Lack of economic means • Although their aspirations are high, other ethnic groups even HIGHER aspirations.

10. Parent Expectations • 71% of mothers expect child to attend 2 or more years • 68% of mothers expect child to complete college • 1 in 5 surveyed expected their child to receive post graduate training • 77% talk to their child about school • 93% talk about their child’s educational future, at least occasionally

11. Education • On average… • 90.4% of Non-Hispanic whites graduate with a high school diploma • 51.9% of Mexican-Americans attain the same degree • 36.6% of FIRST generation receive diploma • 71.3% of SECOND generation receive diploma • 75.3% of THIRD generation receive diploma

12. 2nd and 3rd Generations • In 2004, • Median age for Mexican Americans was 25 • Median age for Non-Hispanic White’s was 38. • Affects: • Level of educational attainment • SES increase with age • SES/Educational status will remain low

13. Reception in the U.S. • How Mexican Americans are stereotyped in the United State • How discrimination plays a role in Mexican Americans lives • How the government, citizens, and educators respond to Mexican Americans

14. Reception: Stereotypes • Stereotypes “In the case of Mexican Americans, this includes expectations based on historically rooted racial stereotypes and instututional treatments that are more complex than white attitudes and social practices toward African Americans or Asians but are no less consequential.” (Lopez and Stanton-Salazar) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bqzWsmq7mw

15. Reception: Stereotypes • Simple minded • Not a people of great intelligence, unable to problem solve or make good decisions . • Manual labor • Going along with simple mindedness, the only work these people can do is physical labor. Not intelligent enough for professional or managerial work. • Lazy • These people don’t work hard enough to get the things they want. It is their fault they are in the position they are today • Illegal's • Not real American citizens, border jumpers who don’t belong here

16. Reception: Discrimination

17. Reception: Discrimination • What do these numbers tell us? • Across the board Mexican Americans there is racial discrimination in America • A large majority of Mexican Americans believe that there is racial conflict in America. • If this is true then why do less report being personally discriminated against? • “by minimizing the discrimination that confronts them, minority members may be able to maintain self esteem and the perception of control over personal outcomes in their lives.” (Ruggiero and Taylor 1997)

18. Reception: The Government • Due to the increasing numbers of Mexican immigrants, tension ha increased between White Americans and Mexican Americas. • Proposition 187 • Save our State Initiative • Denied right to anyone who was not a U.S. citizen • The Border Wall • 2,000 mile fence to keep illegal immigrants out

19. Reception: Schools • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0WKUpRY_AI • Video Points • Students in Group A receive little contact with counselors • Tracking • Split students into predetermined groups of likelihood of future success • Most not fluent Spanish speaking students are put into Group A • Group A has not college preparation courses, only vocational

20. Reception: Citizens • As stated before with an increase in the amount of Mexican immigrants we have seen an increase in tension between them and White Americans. • Citizen Border Patrol • White Americans near border towns flood cross ways for illegal immigrants with their head lights • Scapegoats • Blamed for the loss of higher paying white-blue collar jobs

21. Family/Community Dynamics • Average size family • Birth Rate • Marriage Statistics • Marriage Rates in different states

22. Schooling/Working • Father with some college 15% • Mother with some college 11% • Upper White collar jobs 2% • Lower white collar jobs 10% • Low wage service worker 38% • Blue collar jobs 50%

23. Home Owner • Own a home 43% • In two-parent household 60% • Households of four or less 36%

24. English Language Learners • It takes an ELL student 5-7 years to reach the same level as English speaking peers. • 56% of all public school teachers have at least 1 ELL Student, while only 20% are qualified to teach ELL students. • Teaching Strategies: • Culturally-Responsive Teaching • Cooperative Learning • Instructional Conservations • Cognitively-Guided Instruction • Technology-Enriched Instruction

25. Poverty Means Challenges Fragile Futures: Risk and Vulnerability Among Latino High

26. Poverty Means Challenges • High achieving students in low income families face the same difficulties as low achieving students. • A study that took place 1996 and 2002 with Mexican High Achieving students. • All of the students came from low income families

27. Continued • Grouping into four categories • 15 of the highest achievers were graphed

28. Student Background • 6 of 8 families spoke Spanish only or used both English and Spanish. • Many came from single-parent families • Two of the 8 categories had parents go beyond Junior College • The two who excel the most remain close with their biological parents

29. Background Cont. • Students ranked priority levels only 1 student didn’t rank school or family as 1 or 2 priority • Andres was an exceptional student of this group and dealt with same issues as a low achieving student • Aspiration of college and being an FBI agent • He tutored Puentes students while still trying to excel in his own academics.

30. Continued • Earned a high GPA of 3.74 • Earned an SAT score of 1120 • He graduated and was a candidate for a highly respected scholarship