After reading Lessons From The Field: Female Farmworkers and the Law, which was about how poorly some migrant farm workers are treated one question came to mind, is it really worth it? The long hours, low pay, crammed conditions makes you wonder why they decided to stay and work in these conditions. I decided to do a little research and found a recently published study on how successful the children of immigrant parents are currently. This study done by Pew Research has found that the children “In all the ways our country measures how well you’re doing, the second generation is doing very well". These parents are making supreme sacrifies for the future of their children. This article goes on to state that "Hispanics and Asian-Americans, who make up about half of that group, place more importance on hard work and career success than the general public". After reading and thinking about this study I realized these children see how bad things could be, how a life in poverty changes how you experience life and therefore they work hard to make all their parents hard work worth it. Most American born children take what they have for granted, they expect things to be handed to them in some ways, I believe that is a main reason that these second generation immigrants are succeeding in the United States.
PEW STUDY
Pew Social Trends
It is rather interesting how we get stuck in these cultural patterns. When groups of peoples immigrate over, they take what they know. Their jobs are based on being in familiar communities with familiar people. They are more likely to take jobs in which they can communicate with the workers and build relationships. The pay is bad because the employers know that they can give them that measly amount of money and that they will take it because they need it. They don't have the chance to English language classes like others. Most are too embarrassed to even approach someone for help. Their kids excel because prior to many beliefs, the parents want them to become American. They want them to succeed in this land that they still consider a great place. It is very androcentric. Here white people are supreme and the rest have to take the table scraps. It is a terrible view but it is true that people believe it. They believe it so much that the minorities start believing too. In the end, they want their kids to do well and that is usually why they do. They want a piece of "the American dream" as well.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Belcher