All posts by angelita.kingston

A silver lining of forced migration: Investment in education

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Angelita Kingston (Group 6)

https://voxeu.org/article/silver-lining-forced-migration-investment-education

Can the experience of being uprooted by force encourage people to invest in portable assets such as education? 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 65 million people are currently displaced from their home regions as a result of interstate wars, civil conflict, or natural disasters. The trauma of forced migration leaves deep scars in the memory of those who have experienced it. Furthermore, this trauma can then resonate through subsequent generations and leave diverse and unexpected footprints across the lives of the descendants of those first forced from their homes (Becker, S. et al, 2020).

Children and youth affected by forced displacement are particularly vulnerable to losing their right to
quality education. A recent report by UNHCR on refugee education globally shows staggering
numbers: refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school than non-refugee children.
There are around six million school-age refugees under UNHCR’s mandate. Only half of them access
primary education and 22 percent of refugee adolescents have the opportunity to attend lower
secondary education (G20, 2017). Academic economists have long entertained the idea that being uprooted by force or expropriated increases the subjective value of investing in portable assets, in particular in education (e.g. Brenner and Kiefer 1981). 

In his bestselling autobiographical novel A Tale of Love and Darkness, Amos Oz gives a testimony about his Aunt Sonia: Why is she a road sweeper? So as to keep two talented daughters at university… Food – they save on. Clothes – they save on those too. Accommodation – they all share a single room. All so that the studies and textbooks they won’t be short. They believed that education was an investment for the future, the only thing that no one can ever take away from your children, even if, Heaven forbid, there’s another war, another revolution, more discriminatory laws—your diploma you can always fold up quickly, hide it in the seams of your clothes, and run away to wherever you are allowed to live (Oz, 2005, p. 172).

While the international aid community does consider education as an important factor in reducing economic and social marginalization of refugees (G20 2017, UNICEF 2017), studies suggest that the benefits of providing schooling for forced migrants and their children may be even greater, and more persistent, than previously thought.

References:

Becker, S. and Ferrara, A., 2019. Consequences of forced migration: A survey of recent findings. Labour Economics 59: 1–16.

Becker, S. et al, 2020. A silver lining of forced migration: Investment in education. https://voxeu.org/article/silver-lining-forced-migration-investment-education

G20 (2017) Theory and Policy – Education, Refugees and Development. Policy Brief 

Oz, A (2005), A Tale of Love and Darkness. Vintage Books, NY City, USA.

UNICEF (2017), Education Uprooted: For Every Migrant, Refugee and Displaced Child, Education, UNICEF.

 

Media Reflection 7.3 (Group 6, Angie Kingston) Many third-generation Hispanics don’t speak Spanish, but their parents do. Why?

Media Reflections, Uncategorized

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/10/16/many-third-generation-hispanics-dont-speak-spanish-but-their-parents-do-why/#commentDiv

As written by San Antonio KSAT news reporter, Sarah Acosta, nearly 70% of second-generation Latinos in U.S. are bilingual and fewer than a quarter of third-generation Hispanics speak Spanish. In an interview with KSAT, an Our Lady of the Lake professor was quoted as saying, “The loss of Spanish between generations was generally a way of parents protecting their children from punishment or ridicule that they themselves had experienced.”

(Grosjean, 2010) writes about the myth of bilingualism having a negative effect on the development of children. She explains rationale supporting this negative view when she references linguist, Otto Jesperson, “The brain effort required to master two languages instead of one certainly diminishes the child’s power of learning other things which might and ought to be learnt.” Unfortunately, this view is still present today in certain circles and countries (p. 219).

Many third generation Latinos due not fluently speak Spanish due to the fact that their parents were punished in school for speaking anything but English. “It really is just a generation of people who had a language literally beaten out of them in our school system,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said. “And it’s so tragic and unfortunate because it was not only the loss of a language, but also partly the loss of a culture.”

As mentioned in the Patrick Proctor video, “First generation immigrants tend to be monolingual speakers in their native tongue, second generation children tend to be the most bilingual, and third generation children tend to be monolingual English speakers. The reasons seem clear, “When someone criticizes the way you speak or the way you say certain things,” Dr. Maribel Larraga, Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences at OLLU said. “They are criticizing you as a person.” When a child or adolescent feels criticized or shamed for speaking the language of their family’s culture, they are made to feel lesser. As educators, “We must encourage linguistic diversity while respecting the mother tongue, and foster the learning of several languages from the earliest age” (UNESCO, 2002). We must ensure that all school environments celebrate the cultural diversity and languages of their students.

References:

Acosta, S. (2021) Many third generation parents don’t speak Spanish but their parents do. Why. ksat.com. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/10/16/many-third-generation-hispanics-dont-speak-spanish-but-their-parents-do-why/#commentDiv

Grosjean, F. (2010) Bilingual: Life and reality.Harvard University Press.

Proctor. (n.d.). Linguistic interdependence in bilingual education. Retrieved from Boston college. 

Immigrants and the Sacrifices Made for Their Children’s Futures

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Inspiring photo shows college grad standing in the fruit fields where her immigrant parents work

I chose this image because it has personal meaning to me. As the daughter and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, I watched them sacrifice so I could have more than they ever did. I am now an educator with a passion for respecting the needs of all students and their cultures, because of what they modeled for me. I am where I am today because of their sacrifices and love for me.

Life was not easy for them. They were shy to speak to the teachers and school administrators and were unable to attend many school functions due to their work and hesitancy with speaking the English language correctly. There was not a large hispanic population where I grew up and it seemed that my grandparents and older family members struggled to feel accepted by the small rural community.

They worked very hard to make sure I attended college, traveled the world, and that I had many diverse experiences. They wanted me to succeed in accomplishing all my dreams.