Hispanic Culture example essay topic

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's o 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 Mexicans account for nearly half of all immigration to the US and has changed Mexican's standing from the minority to the majority in many areas. This regional concentration has slowed assimilation because "dispersal is essential" for this to take place. An example of regional concentration slowing this process down to almost a halt is in Miami in which the Cuban population has dominated and Cuban culture is overwhelmingly evident.

Much of this immigration has also been done illegally, supporting the fact that Cubans do not possess a strong desire to assimilate. Many Hispanics feel like they should not have to assimilate into an area that is historically theirs. Many feel like this land was stolen from them and have the right to rebel against political, legal and cultural standings. There is also much support from fellow Hispanics in this cause because "blood is thicker than boarders" (Huntington) that is, who you are should overcome where you live.

In the US today, there is no need or incentive for Hispanics to assimilate into the "American" culture. There is actually more reason to retain Hispanic culture than to let it go. Hispanics are not willing to buy into America, and thus continue to possess several cultural traits that hold them back. These include "lack of initiative, self reliance and ambition as well as little or no use for education, [and that] hard work is not the way to material prosperity" (Huntington). For these reasons, Hispanics are rejecting the ways of the US culture, but in that, they also reject the characteristics of success in school and life that come with the assimilation into this culture.

Huntington's article says "Mexican Americans will share in that dream and in that society only if they dream in English.".