What happens to the children in the immigrant communities when they grow up?

[Anonymous]

Many of the Latino and African communities have been arriving for a few decades, so many of their kids should be adults but I feel like I should see more professionals in their communities. With all the emphasis that school systems play, what happens? Do the kids fail to launch or not go to college? Just seems a little strange since there are so many kids from Ethiopia, and Honduras, and other countries.

Not against diversity for children but am genuinely curious if anyone has insights.

[Anonymous]

I teach Hispanic students in a low income neighborhood. Most do graduate from high school if they are fluent English speakers. The newcomers in our middle school sometimes do not graduate but the high school teachers work hard to make sure they get the extra help they need to graduate. Only a few of my former students have graduated from a 4-year college. If they do go to college, they tend to go to community college while working. If they graduate, it takes a lot longer than 2 years since they are working at the same time. Very few enroll in 4-year colleges due to the cost. Occasionally they get enough FA and scholarship money to go to a 4 yr college. The ones who graduate are almost always very driven girls.

Higher education is not common in their culture. Most are second-generation students and their parents earn enough to send some money home to relatives. Many of the boys go to work with their male relatives in construction and landscaping. Most of the girls have had their first kids by age 22 or so.

[Anonymous]

Same thing that happens to children of non immigrants in trailer parks and poor rural areas. Some make it out and most dont.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure your premise is correct -- how do you know whether any given professional is from an immigrant community? What would that look like to you?

But just taking your question at face value, here's an anecdote. Years ago I mentored a HS kid who was the U.S.-born child of recent immigrants. She would routinely miss class because she'd stayed up cleaning office buildings with her mom at night. They'd be short a crew member for whatever reason and she'd come along in their place, then sleep the next day.

Nice kid, thoughtful, but totally unprepared for college or a white collar job. Her English was heavily accented and informal, but she spoke little of her parents' language and couldn't translate it. She was just kind of stuck between worlds. She did get into a college with funding but, when we parted ways, her mom was leaning against allowing her to attend because it was too far away.

That kind of thing plus systemic discrimination plus lack of generational wealth ... all factors.

[Anonymous]

Some of us are professionals with advanced degrees from prestigious Universities, we hold stable jobs/meaningful careers, own our homes, save money, make wise investment decisions and travel both within the US and internationally.

[Anonymous]

you are clearly a troll. however here are some examples from my millennial classmates who were born in other countries, including those you mentioned:

-policy advisors
-assistant principal
-so many doctors
-bilingual journalists
-science phds who are making the world a better place
-engineering/computer science-y folks who are designing the technology that we will depend upon in 10 years

[Anonymous]

We're still here. We gratuaded with degrees and live well adjusted lives.

[Anonymous]

It mostly depends on education level of parents.
If their parents are educated their kids are well adjusted Americans with college education. Or if parents at least value education and prioritize it.
If not, then it depends. Many hispanic youths are in service sector or state and government jobs. School district secretaries, admin assistants, clerks of all kinds. Bilingualism helps very much.
I also see many Latino young sahms, and young people working as nannies, grocery store clerks, etc.
Many work as camp counselors and coaches.

[Anonymous]

I'm a daughter of immigrants. I don't think you would know this unless I told you. But I'm white, so maybe I don't fit your criteria.

[Anonymous]

It isn't a troll, it is genuine curiosity.

From what I gather, there is a small cohort in a large high school that does well but by and large, it seems that many of the children that are visible minorities may not have much success moving up socioeconomically.

Maybe I'm wrong hence my question but was wondering if there are areas that generally do well. I always hear about how bad things are becoming in MoCo or how bad schools in ACPS and eastern Fairfax can be... so I just wanted to have a conversation after the fact on outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It isn't a troll, it is genuine curiosity.

From what I gather, there is a small cohort in a large high school that does well but by and large, it seems that many of the children that are visible minorities may not have much success moving up socioeconomically.

Maybe I'm wrong hence my question but was wondering if there are areas that generally do well. I always hear about how bad things are becoming in MoCo or how bad schools in ACPS and eastern Fairfax can be... so I just wanted to have a conversation after the fact on outcomes.

This was OP, forgot to include that.

In my own social circles there has been discussions around social mobility and this was an area that came up that none of us could really speak to.

[Anonymous]

Well, I went to the top ranked law school in the country and 4 out of 5 of my roommates were the children of immigrants.

[Anonymous]

[b]

Anonymous wrote:I teach Hispanic students in a low income neighborhood. Most do graduate from high school if they are fluent English speakers. The newcomers in our middle school sometimes do not graduate but the high school teachers work hard to make sure they get the extra help they need to graduate. Only a few of my former students have graduated from a 4-year college. If they do go to college, they tend to go to community college while working. If they graduate, it takes a lot longer than 2 years since they are working at the same time. Very few enroll in 4-year colleges due to the cost. Occasionally they get enough FA and scholarship money to go to a 4 yr college. The ones who graduate are almost always very driven girls.

Higher education is not common in their culture. Most are second-generation students and their parents earn enough to send some money home to relatives. Many of the boys go to work with their male relatives in construction and landscaping. Most of the girls have had their first kids by age 22 or so.

It is so disheartening to think that you teach these children? Just think logically when you write things like- higher education is not common in their culture. So there are barely any doctors, lawyers, scientists or teachers in all of Latin America? How can you be so ignorant? Alex Padilla, the new senator from CA who replaced Kamala Harris, graduated from MIT with an engineering degree. His parents were a cook and a maid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same thing that happens to children of non immigrants in trailer parks and poor rural areas. Some make it out and most dont.

So true. I’ve posted before about this. DH is white and grew up poor. I’m from an immigrant family. Our backgrounds are different but similar. We bought come from a line of hard workers and we are living beside you in a big house. Unless you know me well, you don’t know about my family or his. Some of our siblings went to college and are doing well. We both have other family members who didn’t and are living paycheck to paycheck or odd job to odd job in less expensive areas of the country.

[Anonymous]

Let’s not shame the OP. I think she is genuinely wondering. There are many types of
Immigrants and many types of kids. It would be good to understand which kids go on to complete colleges so we can give more support to those who might not.