The Challenges Immigrant Students Face

Immigrants and their families face a plethora of obstacles on their path to a new life. Whether forced or voluntary, these immigrants will have to tackle the cultural, economic, and educational hurdles that come along with moving to a brand new place and starting over. It can be expected that the challenges immigrant children face are numerous and daunting, but learning to navigate these barriers allow them to come out the other side better for it. 

One of the biggest issues immigrant students face is the use of the English language in an academic setting (or the official language of the new home country). Many immigrant children enroll in American schools with little to no English language skills. ELL (English Language Learners) students are often forced to learn the language quickly, especially if a school is underfunded or lacking the adequate resources to support these students. Nearly a third of all first generation immigration families in the U.S. live in poverty, which effects access to early-childhood education and creates gaps in education. As a result, immigrant students are more likely to score below their counterparts on standardized tests (Mitchell, 2017).

Another major struggle for immigrant students is the identity crises they face when being pulled between staying true to their old culture and trying to adapt to the new one they now find themselves immersed in (Shenfield, 2017). The pressure to fit in becomes especially overbearing as students enter the secondary levels of education, such as middle or high school (Harrington, 2008).

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for immigrant students. While the challenges will almost certainly surpass the advantages, these third culture kids do have a few. For starters, they often feel less tied down to a certain place and are more willing to travel for better opportunities when presented with them later in life (Druart, 2016). There sense of freedom develops an independence that can be taken advantage of when developing 21st century skills, such as collaboration and problem solving.

References

Druart, R. 2016. Where Do I Belong? Retrieved from http://www.psy-ed.com/wpblog/challenges-faced-by-immigrant-children/

Harrington, P. 2008. The Negotiation of Identity in an International School Setting. Retrieved from

Mitchell, C. 2017 Immigrants Face Challenges on Path to Opportunity. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2017/10/immigrant_students_often_struggle.html

Shenfield, T. 2017. Understanding the Challenges Faced by Immigrant Children. Retrieved from http://www.psy-ed.com/wpblog/challenges-faced-by-immigrant-children/

Globalization and Education

The concept of globalization really took off in the early 19080s, with the economic liberalization of China, the rise of democracy in South Korea piggybacked by the relative fall of communism in the Soviet Union. These 3 major events (along with others), released billions of people into the global economy through reduced trade and tariff barriers. Along the same time, a small phenomenon known as the internet, was just beginning to dig its heels into the ground and take the world by storm, its nations and citizens would interact with each other forever (Stewart, 2012). Technology and lax trade barriers ultimately led to the integration of markets and enabled companies and governments to connect with each other faster and cheaper than ever before. 

 According to Rizvi and Lingard (2001), the link between between economies, politics, and education is the interpretations of how we allow globalization to reshape and reimagine possibilities for our lives. According to Globalizing Education Policy, the link is ‘‘both an ideological formation and a social imaginary that now shapes the discourses of education policy’’ (p. 2). At least three factors contribute to globalization and its effects on the world, including education: “profound changes that take place around the world, ideologies representing different political interest, and social norms that shape identities of the masses” (p. 3). This is to say that globalization has had a major impact on education.

In our virtual class, our cohort discussed the effects of colonization, especially in areas like Africa and South Asia. Vamshi talked about his home country and how a lack of faith in the Indian public school system pushed many citizens to seek alternative options, such as international schools. However, my experience in Eastern Asia differs from this as the Korean education system is consistently ranked as one of the “best” in the world. In places like Korea, where their global economy allows them to compensate for their relatively small population size, growing students into globalized citizens helps the powerhouse economy stay competitive. The allure of international schools is not in the gap of educational quality, but in their ability to teach  English.

International assessments like the PISA (Program for International Assessment), have assessed the quality of education systems from across the world since 2000. Traditionally, these assessment have favored systems that emphasized memorization over application of knowledge. However, the PISA has undergone significant rehauls in since 2012 in an attempt to better measure 21st century skills. 21st century skills are the things students will need to succeed in a rapidly evolving and dynamic world. To accommodate for this, the test now has fewer multiple choice questions and a completely new section (in addition to math, reading, and science) that asks takers to collaborate with others and use creative problem solving over a “chat” feature on the electronic test (Gomes ,2016).

It is no secret that globalization and internationalism is changing the politics, economies, and educational policies of countries from around the world. As the workforce continues to change and demands more knowledge based skills, compared to “blue-collar” labor skills (Stewart, 2010), it’s important that countries keep up with educational trends. Despite the challenges, such as revamping traditional educational institutions and ways of thinking, it’s inevitable if one’s policies want to keep up with the interconnectedness of the world.

References

Gomes, P. (2016) How PISA is Changing to Reflect 21st Century Workforce Needs and Skills. Retreived from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-04-26-how-pisa-is-changing-to-reflect-21st-century-workforce-needs-and-skills

Rizvi, F. & Lingard, B. (2011) Globalizing Education Policy. London, UK. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwgYlY1O2AV2bHNBSzNSTk1Xc0k/view

Stewart, V. (2012) A World Class Education. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/111016/chapters/Globalization-and-Education.aspx