All posts by melissa.janco

Module 10 Media Reflection

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The share of immigrant workers in high-skill jobs is rising in the U.S.
This article showcases data that displays that the immigrants that are moving to the United States are becoming more skilled and educated.  The article breaks down different immigrant groups that can be found in the United States and shows the data related to the individual groups.  It begins by acknowledging that immigrants in the U.S. are significantly less likely to be employed in high skilled jobs when compared to their U.S. born counterparts.  The author establishes the different skill groups that are part of high skill jobs as social skills, fundamental skills, analytical skills, managerial skills, and mechanical skills.  Next the author compares data from 1995 about the immigrant populations working in jobs within these skill groups to data from 2018.  Here it is evident that there has been growth in immigrants working in jobs that require these skills over these 23 years.  Mechanical skills are the only area that there was not a growth from 1995 to 2018.  This is explained, “this move toward high-skill occupations is due in part to a rising level of education among immigrants overall. In 2018, 34% of immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or more education, up from 22% in 1995” (Bennett, 2020).  The last section of the article analyzes employment in highly skilled jobs based on the racial groups of immigrants.  This section is particularly interesting because it shows that in the United States Asian and White immigrants are more likely to work in non-mechanical high-skill jobs.  This section also discusses that Hispanic immigrants are more likely to be employed in lower skilled non-mechanical jobs.  

This research connects to many of the topics that came up in the video Migration Inside and Outside Africa by Al Jazeera.  During this conversation, the presenters spoke several times about how the skills of a workforce impact migration patterns.  During this discussion, one of the presenters said, “economic growth requires skilled migrants” (Al Jazeera).  This shows the importance of creating a skilled group of workers, that includes immigrants.   The panel speaks extensively about how education and skills development are important to create a thriving economy that is inclusive of immigrants.  They also spoke about creating jobs with different skill requirements within their countries so that they can utilize people who have different skill backgrounds.  It seems that these ideas could be applied in the U.S. as well.  In the U.S. it seems that we need to continue developing our education and skills development programs for immigrants so that they can find meaningful employment that will be able to support them and their families.  It seems that it is especially important to be creating these opportunities for Black and Hispanic immigrants, as they are the groups that seem to be facing the most challenges in accessing skill development programs and finding highly skilled jobs.

Media Reflection: group 3

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In this video that I have shared, the speaker shares her experience as a South Indian child who moved from Los Angeles to Singapore at the age of seven.  The speaker, Smrithi, shares the impact of being a minority in a new place and the impact of the assimilation process in her life.  

In her story, she shares how her family made sure that she was immersed in her culture growing up.  Her family enrolled her in traditional dance lessons, music classes, language classes and provided her with role models from her South Indian culture.  She discussed how she felt secure in her South Indian culture, but also recognized that living in Los Angeles, she was a minority.  As a result of her parents immigrating to the United States, she would likely fit in the minority category of immigrant minority.  She would be considered an immigrant minority because she did experience language and cultural differences in her upbringing.  

At eleven years old, Smrithi and her family moved to Singapore.  Initially, she noticed the ethnic diversity and that Singapore is a nation made up of immigrants from South Asian countries, including South India.  She was surprised to be around people who looked more like  her and that her culture was more common in her new city.  In Singapore, she and her sister attended an American International school.  As Smrithi stated, “as I would soon find out, I was a majority in the city and a minority at school” (2:37).  At school, Smrithi began experiencing bullying. This caused her to begin to alter her appearance in an effort to assimilate with her peers.  She discusses straightening her curly hair and using lightening creams on her skin.  Her goal was to hide her physical South Indian traits and blend in with the Euro-centric appearance of her classmates.  Additionally, she stopped speaking her language, stopped bringing South Indian foods to school, and stopped watching South Indian movies.  At this point in her life, Smrithi still fits into the immigrant minority category, but now it is impacting her in a different way.  It is evident that she feels a significant amount of pressure to “blend in”, or assimilate, with the majority culture that existed in her school.   

References:

Ogbu, J. U. (1987) Variability in minority school performance: A problem in search of an explanation. In Anthropology & Education Quarterly Vol.18 No.4 [pp.312-334].

Special Education Identification for Language Learning Students

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This video describes the interesting predicament of the over and under identification of Language Learners for Special Education Services. As a Special Educator I have seen both sides of this problem. I have worked with students who were identified with a Speech and Language disability with areas of weaknesses including reading, writing and speech who is also identified as a Language Learner. These students are often labeled with a disability, when in reality their weaknesses are stemming in not having enough time to learn the language. Conversely, I currently have a student who is identified with a Learning Disability who was not identified until third grade as a result of being a Language Learner. They were waiting to see how the student responded to language interventions prior to pursuing a Special Education referral. This student has significant weaknesses in the areas of decoding, encoding and math. As a result of being a Language Learner as a young child, they were not identified early enough to receive early intervention for their disability, which may have impacted their progress early on. In many of the school districts that I have worked in, when a Language Learning student is identified for Special Education, their ELL services are discontinued and replaced for Special Education services. These services have different purposes and there have been many instances where I have had to advocate for students to be able to receive both services because that it what is appropriate to meet the students needs. Additionally, I have also had several experiences with students who have immigrated to the country with a documented disability, which creates an interesting situation. Legally, districts are required to provide these students with special education, but the student is also still adjusting to American schools and learning the language. We have had to create extremely specific and creative programs to provide students with the services that they require.

Overall, the intersection of the Special Education process, Immigration and Language Learning process can be an incredibly complex and nuanced conversation.