Chapter 1

The first chapter of the ETE 663 textbook focuses on the changing pattern of immigration in the United States and provides context for upcoming discussions of multicultural education. Taylor dutifully reports a wealth of statistics and facts regarding national legislation, illegal immigration, and current issues facing our country. Rather than commenting on these statistics, however, I will instead focus on the historical assimilation of immigrants and how it relates to my educational experiences.

As Dr. Cantu noted in his video presentation, America is a land of immigrants; as such, it is a land of diversity and varied cultures. This melting pot of citizens historically assimilated (gave up their original culture’s characteristics and adopted those of their new country) as they immigrated to America. One of the most intriguing parts of this chapter is the quote from Horace Mann, who declared that public schools were “necessary, above all, to ensure the assimilation of immigrants.” Taylor also notes that these settlers were expected to learn English, take pride in American identity, and live by the Protestant work ethic in order to “be welcome as full members of the American family.”

In my opinion, this pattern of assimilation continues in public schools today. In my six years of teaching experience (all but one year in a rural setting), I observed new students in the district conform to the “norms” of their new community in a variety of ways (socially, academically, emotionally, and even physically).

For instance, the population of Delavan, a small farming community in rural southern Tazewell County, Illinois, is comprised of mostly Caucasian, working class families, the majority of whom were born in Delavan and stayed to raise their own families in the town. Most students in the K-12 school building literally grow up with the same classmates year after year, receive an intensive curriculum of vocational courses, and participate in the few extracurricular activities offered by the school (cross country, basketball, church-related youth groups, and Future Farmers of America, to name a few).

Many of the new students I encountered were teenagers who had been placed with foster families in Delavan. The majority of these students were African-American boys who had previously attended Peoria School District 150, and were accustomed to much larger classes, varied extracurricular opportunities, and multicultural peers.

As these students attempted to fit in at Delavan High School, they invariably began to change their appearance (most notably by wearing hooded sweatshirts instead of the dark polos – a nod to the lack of school uniform), choice of classes (study halls were replaced by the elective agricultural science class), and after school activities (joining clubs or sports – perhaps because the majority of their peers were in these groups).

Behaviors also changed; urban slang became noticeably absent after several weeks and talk of friends “back home” significantly decreased. These kids were doing everything they could to fit in, despite the 180-degree difference in culture. Looking back, with what I am learning about multicultural education, I’m sure I could have made more of an effort to acculturate these students and help their classmates dispel myths and stereotypes about the “new kids” in town.

As such, my question for the class is: how can teachers be encouraged to promote acculturation instead of assimilation when new students join the class? How can we help the new students realize that their backgrounds and culture are assets, not liabilities?