Ms. Rose's Cultural Reflections

Immigration laws and families in the United States:   What an uneasy relationship these can share.   Having lived in a state with a very, very high number of immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, I have seen just how uncomfortable these people can be when dealing with any governmental agencies and representatives.   I’ve seen immigrants who struggled day in and day out to “lie low” so as to not attract any attention from the authorities.   This was not due to any criminal activity on their part.   This was simply out of fear of being detained or deported. Now, as an aspiring educator, I have seen how devastating the possibility of deportation can be specifically to a student.   In my current internship placement, we had a young boy I shall call Arturo.   Arturo had entered this second grade classroom having a history of violent outbursts in the school, deficiencies in all curricular areas, and burdened with the challenges that face all English-language learners.    Howe

  “Them that's got shall have Them that's not shall lose So the Bible said and it still is news Mama may have, Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own”                                     God Bless the Child                                     Arthur Herzog Jr.   and Billie Holiday                        As I read about the current state of education for minority students in the United States, this song kept running through my mind.  Statistics show that the fastest-growing school age population are minority students.  Specifically, the Hispanic population has grown dramatically.  As a long-time, former resident of California, I can attest to the flourishing Hispanic community.  Almost 10% of this Hispanic population are English learners.  While approximately 88% Non-Hispanic white adults have a high school diploma, only 63% of Hispanics graduated from high school.  Similarly