The immense levels of discrimination faced by Mexican, Chinese, and Puerto Rican immigrants throughout our country’s history have often been overlooked. It has been well documented that African and Native Americans dealt with discrimination, segregation, and hate throughout the history of our country. However, the chapter brought to light some of the other immigrant groups who were targeted and treated unfairly and suffered greatly from many of America’s discriminatory and exclusionary laws which ensured that these groups of individuals were not granted full rights and a fair path to citizenship. The denial of education to these groups was seen as a way to keep these people from acquiring the knowledge to be able to advance in society, both socially and economically. I found this to be one of the most egregious and disgusting aspects of America’s discrimination towards immigrants. Legislation such as the Naturalization Act of 1790 and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act were passed in order to make sure Mexicans and Chinese weren’t classified as “white” and were not able to gain citizenship. As for the Puerto Ricans, what I found disturbing was the passage of the Jones Act in 1917 by Woodrow Wilson which granted them citizenship and required them to serve in the military but denied them the right to vote in national elections. So they were able to sacrifice their lives for the United States but were not able to have a voice or any form of representation in our government.
The disdain towards bilingual education was also something I found very interesting. Bilingual education is one of the most important aspects of our education system today given the diversity of our society. It would be unthinkable to imagine Bilingual education being eliminated from schools altogether. I absolutely agree that immigrants should learn the English language to the best of their ability. I think it is an important way for them to become a more active and knowledgeable participant within our democracy. However, learning a new language is very difficult and often takes many years. I believe young immigrant students should continue to be given the right to a bilingual education and to ESL courses as they slowly become more Americanized and more familiar and comfortable with the American culture.
My questions for discussion are: Is there enough emphasis placed on the importance of bilingual and foreign language education in our modern education system? Are there any other significant cultural barriers to education (besides language) that immigrant’s face today?
