Cultrual Cultural Deprivation the Hispanic Challenge

Cultural Deprivation: The Hispanic Challenge

Why do some groups not succeed in academic settings? One theory brought up in "Understanding inequality" suggests that the gap in the socioeconomic status drives the inequalities in the school system. The low and working class have less time and income to intervene with schooling. This means they have less time to meet with teachers, hire tutors, and provide continuous transportation. Therefore the lower class can't possibly compete with the middle and upper classes. Angela Valenzuela gives the accounts of some Hispanic students' experiences in school. These students feel that it is the inferior nature of the schools in the US that contribute to the low success levels. The schools in Mexico have "teachers [that] value and nurture in their students an ability to communicate and express themselves with confidence" (Valenzuela). This is what leads to success in schooling, which the United States does not provide them. Another explanation to this is a theory of cultural deprivation. This is the idea that certain cognitive styles connect to different ethnic groups. It just so happens that what school demands from students is a characteristic of the White and Asian races, which is abstraction , while other less successful groups like African Americans and Latinos possess more concrete thinking. Current manifestations of this can be seen from Samuel Huntington's article "The Hispanic Challenge."

Huntington believes that the Latino culture is deprived because Latino's have not assimilated into American culture, and thus, can't succeed within its boundaries. According to Huntington, unlike previous immigrants, Hispanics wish to retain a dual culture. This presents them with the culture clash of two varying views on culture as well as education. There are several factors that have made this culture of immigrants assimilations' so much different than the past immigrants that America has so fondly welcomed with open arms. These include contiguity, scale illegality regional concentration, persistence and historical presence.

The fact that the US shares such a large boarder with Mexico is enhanced by the great economic differences on each side. "The income gap between the United States and Mexico is the largest between any two contiguous countries in the world" (Huntington). The incentive to immigrate is obvious, and allows Latinos to remain in contact with their family and friends while making a living in the US. Because the passage between these boarders is so accessible, it has lead to immigration on a grand scale. The persistence of Hispanics in migrating has lead to having

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