Cruz-Jansen
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I feel most privileged and eager to join this dialogue on Education and
Immigrant girls. My own experiences migrating to the U.S. mainland from
Puerto Rico, while seemingly far removed, are unfortunately lived today by
too many immigrant girls. It saddens and enrages me that thirty years have
made little difference in the way our educational system views and treats
girls of various racial/ethnic backgrounds. It further alarms me how little
is known and understood about their cultural, historical, and gendered
realities.
In 1964 my mother moved the entire family of four girls and one boy ranging
in ages between 14 and 1 year, to New York City as a result of domestic
violence. Once it became apparent that the local judicial system served to
protect the men rather than the abused wives and children, our mother
picked us at school and took us to the airport. Fearing for our lives, we
smuggled cautiously to an environment completely foreign and hostile to us.
We could only take what we carried on our backs. From a life of comfort we
found ourselves with nothing, living in an almost barren one-bedroom
apartment in a run-down tenement, without assistance for fear that we would
be found if we went to any government agency. We lived on a fifth floor
without elevator. Often, there was no heat or hot water. We draped the
windows with towels to keep the cold winter winds out. We lacked the most
essential, including a phone and television. For three years we lived in
hiding, constantly fearing that our father would show up and take us back
to the island where we would be back at his mercy. We could not communicate
with anyone on the island, including relatives. The school back home knew
of our whereabouts but would not divulge our secret. They sometimes sent
"care packages" that included warm clothes. As the oldest I had to get a
job after school and weekends to help support the family. Because I was not
of legal age to work, I did laundry and ironing for other families.
A former honor student in Puerto Rico, exceeding in all areas including
math and science, I found myself placed in a class for non-English speakers
where little, if any, academic content was taught. The teacher, I recall,
read the newspapers day in and day out while we chatted amongst ourselves.
He was not inhibited in his low opinion of us and often chided that we
would not amount to much anyway. It did not matter that I already spoke,
read, and wrote English well enough to succeed in academic subjects.
Several teachers recognized my abilities and skills and fought on my behalf
to get me into the Honor Roll Society and college-preparatory courses. This
was to no avail as the school officials felt that I did not speak English
"well enough," forcing me to take speech courses, rather than calculus,
trigonometry, physics, or other classes required for college admission,
supposedly to eliminate my unacceptable accent. They also advised me to get
into the vocational track and acquire typing skills. With the help of a few
teachers, I applied and was accepted at Cornell University. Still, the
school counseled me not to attend because I was certain to fail in such an
institution.
I received the B.S. in 1973. I went on to receive the M.A. and M.Ed. in
Human Development and Counseling from the Columbia University Teachers
College and the Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of
Denver College of Education.
My experiences with immigrant populations, particularly Spanish-speaking,
are numerous. I was elementary Spanish-bilingual teacher with the New York
City Public Schools (1974-1979) where I worked closely with children and
families from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and other
Latin American countries. Later I worked as elementary Spanish-bilingual
teacher with the Denver Public Schools (1985-1990), serving predominantly
Mexican American families. Between 1990-1992 I became Race and Sex Equity
Consultant with the Colorado Department of Education. In this capacity I
provided technical assistance to school districts throughout the state.
>From 1992 until 1995 I was principal of a Spanish-bilingual elementary
school. The school population was predominantly Mexican American with 47%
percent new immigrant and Spanish-monolingual families. Throughout the
years, I have worked with adolescent Latinas in the areas of educational
achievement and career planning. From 1990 through 1992 I was state
coordinator for Expanding Your Horizons, career options conferences for
9th-12th grade female students.
Dialogue on Education and Immigrant Girls
Research has demonstrated that the educational achievement of children is
linked to the parents' education and socioeconomic status and particularly
the education of the mother, yet many adolescent females of color fail to
complete high school.
While the nation has become more educated across the decades, many groups
do not share in this accomplishment. In 1998, 83% of the U.S. population 25
years old and over had completed high school and 24% had completed four or
more years of college. This represents an increase from 1969, when only 69%
had completed high school and 17% four years of college (National Center
for Education Statistics, 1999). Whereas the graduation gap between
White/European Americans and Blacks/African Americans has been narrowing
steadily for the past 20 years, the rate for Latinos/Hispanics has seen
little, if any, improvement. In 1972, approximately 21% of all African
American students dropped out of school. By 1994 that figure was reduced to
12.6% in contrast to 10.5% for European Americans. On the other hand, the
dropout rate of Latinos has remained between 30-35% during this same time
frame (Pinto, 1997). The high dropout rate among Latinos in general is
closely linked to the rate among immigrant subgroups. Many non-English
speaking Latino immigrants never enroll in school. Urban school districts
across the nation with predominantly Latino student populations have
disproportionate and unacceptable high levels of Latino dropouts.
Additionally, in many parts of the nation the dropout rates among Limited
English Proficient (LEP) Latinos reaches levels as high as 50-60% (National
Center for Education Statistics, 1999).
There is a strong tendency in the U.S. to categorize very different
cultural subgroups under homogenizing, reductionist, racial/ethnic labels.
As such many Latino subgroups find themselves grouped, and stereotyped,
together. What is overlooked is that the sociopolitical histories of Latino
subgroups in their home country has a strong impact on their lives once on
U.S. soil. There is a need to disaggregate data among groups, for example
between Mexican Whites, Indians, and Blacks; Cuban Whites and Blacks, etc.
Immigrant students most likely to complete high school and attend college
have parents with higher income and education levels. The educational
achievement between Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, and
other Latinos in the U.S. varies widely. Cuban Americans, the most
educational and economically successful of the major Latino groups in the
U.S., are predominantly White (AfroCubaWeb.com, 2000). Most Puerto Ricans
on the mainland, the least successful group, are perceived as Black (Davis,
1998). Cuban Americans are primarily first and second generations of the
educated and financially well-off exiles, descendants of Spaniards, of the
Castro Revolution of 1959 while most Puerto Ricans represent the
uneducated, low socioeconomic, Black, Taino Indian, and racially mixed
agricultural workers displaced by the rapid 1950-70s industrialization of
the island.
Other immigrant groups are not sharing in the educational bonanza of the
nation. The stereotyped high achievement of Asian Americans has obscured
the reality that not all Asians are succeeding in our schools. It is often
stated that over 90% of Asian students complete high school (National
Center for Education Statistics, 1999). What is often not stated is that in
parts of the nation, the dropout rate for immigrant Southeast Asians
(Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Vietnamese etc.), reaches 60%. Whereas nearly
60% of South Asians (Indians, Sri Lankans, etc.) and 40% of Chinese in the
U.S. hold at least a bachelor's degree, only 3% of Hmong and 6% of
Cambodians do so. Two thirds of all Hmong families in the U.S. live below
the poverty level in comparison to only 7% of Japanese Americans and 13% of
the nation as a whole (Sengupta, 1997).
Clearly, many factors impact students' educational achievement. Language
barriers are one of them. Speakers of languages other than English
encounter enormous obstacles in schools where bilingual education is not
offered and/or do not provide adequate language services such as
native-speaking teachers, aides, and other school personnel. A significant,
yet often discounted obstacle, is the negative attitude of school personnel
toward languages other than English and the people who speak them. Many
teachers hold lower expectations and place non-English speaking students in
lower educational tracks. Even though research shows that it takes between
5-7 years to acquire proficiency in a second language, these students are
readily placed in English immersion programs with little support, thus
putting their education, particularly in other content areas, on hold until
they acquire sufficient proficiency in the second language to master
academic content. Students, in turn, grow increasingly disillusioned and
develop poor attitudes toward schools and teachers.
We also have the issues of race and racism in the U.S. While many would
like to claim that racism is no longer a crucial factor affecting the
educational achievement of students of color, the truth is that racism is
alive and well in our country. Increasingly, immigrants are people of
color. In 1992 the breakdown was 44% Latin Americans and Caribbeans, 37%
Asians, and 15% Europeans (Eric Digest, 1996). Not only has our nation come
to associate immigrants with non-Whites but also with non-English speakers
even though most come from countries where English is the mainstream
language and/or already speak English well upon arrival (Eric Digest,
1996). In the same vein, there is increasing association between immigrant
and poverty. We need to understand the difference between voluntary
immigrants and involuntary refugees. Immigrants cannot enter the U.S.
unless they demonstrate that they do not need public assistance. Refugees,
who are only 10% of the immigrant population, arrive with nothing and
require public support, usually in the form of welfare and food stamps
(Eric Digest, 1996). Many South Asian and White European immigrants come
from middle-income, college-educated families. Latino, Black, and Southeast
Asian immigrants often come from low-income families with less than 12
years of schooling (Eric Digest, 1996).
Many other factors affect the educational achievement of immigrants,
particularly females. Differential gender expectations deter higher
education of females. Within some cultures, females are expected to marry
and give birth at a young age. Regularly, females of color are strapped
with numerous household and child caring responsibilities that interfere
with formal schooling. They are expected to set educational aspirations
aside. Sometimes an education is perceived as an obstacle to marriage.
Within the schools, mainstream teachers focus on the social aspects of
females of color, such as how well they behave and/or assist with other
students, rather than academic achievement.
According to a recent report by the American Association of University
Women (AAUW), Latina girls have a higher high school dropout rate than
girls in any other racial or ethnic group and are less likely to complete a
four-year college degree (Ginorio & Huston, 2001). The dropout rate for
Latinas aged 16-24 is 30%, compared with 12.9% for African Americans and
8.2% for European Americans. Only 10% of Latina women complete a four-year
college education, compared with 13.9% for African Americans and 22.3% for
European Americans. This is alarming in light of the fact that Latinas are
the fastest growing female population of color and Latinos, as a whole,
will represent 25% of the entire U.S. school population by 2030. Further
considering that people of color, "minorities," are expected to be the
"majority" within the next few decades, the educational status of Latinas
must be addressed with urgency.
The report recommends that schools do more to recognize the "cultural
values" that may saddle Latina girls with responsibilities that detract
from educational endeavors. Institutions should work with, rather than
against, families and communities and recognize the strengths that Latinas
bring to the classroom. Extended families can reorganize responsibilities
and schedules with greater ease than small and isolated units. What is
often needed is greater understanding by all family members of the
educational goals, timelines, and outcomes and how they will benefit all.
Unequivocally, what is becoming apparent is that understanding the
educational needs of immigrant girls is complex. We cannot generalize
across cultures. Indeed, we cannot even generalize within the same cultural
groups. Cultures are not static and change over time. Groups make
accommodations that enable them to survive specific environmental
conditions. Mexican Americans living in rural versus urban areas will have
developed uniquely different perceptions and life realities. We need to
start by suspending all preconceived notions. Only then can we begin to
explore the many issues at hand.
References
AfroCubaWeb.com (2001). AfroCubans: Race & identity in Cuba. (
http://afrocubaweb.com).
Davis, J. F. (1998). Who is Black? One nation's definition. University
Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
Ginorio, A. & Huston, M. (2001). !Si se puede! Yes, we can: Latinas in
school. Washington, D.C.: American Association of University Women.
National Center for Education Statistics (2001). Dropout rates in the
United States: 1999. U.S. Department of Education.
Pinto, A. I. (1997, December). "No more excuses: about Hispanic
dropouts. Education Digest.
Schwartz, W. (1996). Immigrants and their educational attainment: Some
facts and findings. ERIC Digest (1996.11.00). New York: ERIC Clearinghouse
on Urban Education.
Segunpta, S. (1997, November). Asian-American students diverse, need
more attention, study finds. Denver Post, November 9 1997, p. 26A.
Marta I. Cruz-Janzen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Multicultural Education
Teacher Education Department
College of Education
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, Florida
<cruzjensen@fau.edu>
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