Undocumented children face many challenges in school when migrating to the United States. From not being familiar with the language to being victims of bullying, undocumented children must deal with these barriers and at the same time keep up with their schooling. Undocumented children must live with the fear of being deported and are not equipped with the resources to be successful in school because of economic barriers. They come from low income families and are unable to get the help they need to be successful in school. Aside from not being able to afford help such as a tutor, these student’s parents who are usually undocumented as well, do not know where to look for resources to help their children. For these reasons, a child’s development is negatively impacted . In the years after, because these students are also first generation students, they must seek help on their own with the college application process unlike other students who receive help from their parents.
In addition to not having the resources to be successful in school, these undocumented students must deal with emotional distress caused by bullies in school. U.S immigrant students are bullied for being “different” than their peers and are left in isolation because of uncommon differences among each other. These immigrant students look and speak differently than the native-born student and are isolated from their group. These actions lead immigrant students to emotional stress which affect their school work and are unable to focus in school for fear of being bullied. Having to adapt to the new culture, language, and behaviors adds to the overwhelmed student and creates a stressful environment for the student in school. These factors affect the immigrant child negatively; they loose their confidence and social skills when becoming victims of bullying and affect their learning in school. While some U.S immigrant children may be victims of bullying, they do not let these barriers stop them from receiving an education and being successful in school.
Student being bullied in school
Immigrant children have brought diversity and different cultural values to the classroom. For example, because these children came from another country, they have different experiences to share and enrich the learning of other students in the classroom. Undocumented children expose teachers and peers to what their life was like in their country and give a different perspective of the living conditions they faced and continue to live in. Teachers are challenged to create lesson plans that will allow immigrant students to fully engage in the classroom. When teachers create lesson plans that enforce collaboration, it allows native born students to get to know the immigrant children and enriches both students’ learning.
Performing well in school as an immigrant is difficult, yet many students do it and become successful after facing endless barriers. From having to worry about being deported to being bullied for appearing different, these children must face these challenges and overcome them to be successful in school. While many live in low income families, they manage to get by and persevere in school even through hard times. Because of this, they are seen as admirable children for being courageous and not giving in to the difficult times. Every child should have equal opportunities in school and should not be discriminated based on appearance.
Works Cited
Maynard, Brandy R., et al. “Bullying Victimization among School-Aged Immigrant Youth in the United States.” The Journal of Adolescent Health : Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 10 Mar. 2016, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764796/.
Olneck, Michael R. “Immigrants and Education.” ERIC , 30 Nov. 1995, eric.ed.gov/?id=ED382713.
Tamer , Mary. “The Education of Immigrant Children.” Harvard Graduate School of Education, HGSE, 11 Dec. 2014, http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/14/12/education-immigrant-children.
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