MVP 8

Junqi Huang (Kay)

“The identity style chosen by a young person has implications for adaptation to the new society, including schooling experiences. In some case, the identity that is forged is highly focused on the culture of origin, with coethnics as the primary point of reference. In some of these cases, an identity that is adversarial to the dominant culture may emerge. Among children of immigrants who gravitate toward adversarial styles embracing aspects of the culture of the dominant group is equated with giving up one’s own ethnic identity. Those who develop adversarial identities tend to encounter problems in school and drop out, and they consequently face unemployment in the formal economy.”

• Doucet, F., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2006). Ethnic identity and schooling: The experiences of Haitian immigrant youth. In L. Romanucci-Ross, G. DeVos & T. G. Tsuda (Eds.), Ethnic identity: Creation, conflict, and accommodation (4th ed., pp. 163-188). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

The Cruel Reality

                  This passage reminds me of my life in America. I have been New York around five years, and what the passage says is true. People choose their identity style while adapting the new living environment. America is a huge immigrants country. It holds various cultural background people. For those people who are new to America, if they want to “survive”, they have to adapt and fit into the society. According to the passage, “those who develop adversarial identities tend to encounter problems in school and drop out, and they consequently face unemployment in the formal economy”. I remembered that my professor from intercultural class told us that there is a cruel reality in the America educational career. Many “ABC immigrants” are difficult to get jobs for teaching English in America even though they reach the proficiency level of English. I mean most of “ABC immigrants” already thought they are American. It shows they embrace the American culture and “give up” their own ethnic group; however, in some cases, the society might not be ready to accept them yet. We cannot say the low rate of English employment is related to racism because in some other cases, they are treated equally by society. Maybe, the society has its own concern.

“Luckily, not everyone I encountered during my k-12 public school experience sought to silence and erase my culture. Not everyone demanded that I speak standard English. There were moments of relief.” (Prieto, 2005, p.4)

In The stings of social hierarchies Linda Prieto talks about her experience growing up Chicana and what her experience was in school. She talks about how many of her experiences in school in the US involved teachers telling her to only speak English and not speak Spanish and how her family, especially her mother, made sure that she didn’t loose her Mexican roots by speaking only Spanish in the house and keeping their traditions from Mexico strong. Because of her family, Prieto was able to become bilingual by keeping up with her Spanish in the home. However, unfortunately this is not always the case with first or second generation students or students who immigrate to the US at a young age. Continue reading Don’t “erase” minority cultures, foster them →