Begin with the End — Eliminating the Discrimination against Immigrants at school and work in 5 years — in Mind


  • Context
The number of immigrants in the US has been growing more and more, and it was as big as 44.9 million in 2019 (Batalova et al., 2021). Most people know at least one person, who came here in the US from another country, and it can be their friend, family member, coworker, classmate, neighbor, etc. Immigrants can play important roles anywhere in society including companies or organizations, and therefore they should be best educated for their bright future. However, unfortunately, many immigrants have felt uncomfortable with the way they are treated. According to Szaflarski and Bauldry (2019), the longer immigrants have lived in the US, the poorer their mental health is, and one of the major stressors is discrimination against them. They face discrimination that are related to many factors including linguistic and cultural barriers on a daily basis, but most people don’t realize what they are going through. If you can successfully include immigrants in your environment, especially workplaces and classrooms, not only will they spend more comfortable and successful lives in the US, but also they will strengthen your organization. This page is for local activists and organizational actors, including local schools and companies, to make social changes together.


  • Values
One of the values that schools should look for is Relationship-Oriented School Climate. The National School Board Association (2018) explains that successful schools “support positive behavior and build healthy, supportive relationships and a sense of community both between and among students and staff. In them, students have frequent opportunities for participation, collaboration, service, and self-direction, all strengthening their connection to the school” (para.11). This means that if schools ensure that their students and teachers have healthy and positive relationships between and among each other, the school will grow as a whole. However, this cannot be achieved as long as there is discrimination against certain groups of students, and one of those groups is immigrant students. According to Camera (2016), a quarter of all students age 18 or under in the US are first generation or second generation immigrants. Including students who are 19 or older, the number will be even bigger. Therefore, if schools can eliminate the discrimination against immigrant students, they will make significant difference in thier achievement. Also, a value companies and businesses should look for is diversity. When companies and businesses establish great diversity, they are more likely to succeed because diverse people will bring different creativity, innovation, and skills. Hiring immigrants is the great way to improve diversity in workplaces, however, the fact is that there are nearly 2 million college-educated immigrants who have low-skilled jobs by which they waste their brain and skills (Romero, 2020). In other words, if companies and businesses successfully include immigrants and work together with their brain and skills, they will be more successful than ever.

  • Needs
My goal of ending discrimination against immigrants in 5 years needs your support. With my own effort, the change I can make is very small. If schools and companies work together towards the goal, we can make big changes because school and work are the essential aspects of life that almost everyone goes through. Everyone, including US-born citizens and immigrants themselves, needs places to learn about and practice inclusion and respect to each other, and they also need leaders who show how to do so.


  • Call to Action
Try learning their language first. — The most common reason why people discriminate against immigrants is because of their language barrier. Some people expect everyone to speak English naturally and don’t even treat those who don’t speak English as humans. If you ever get frustrated by someone not speaking or understanding English, think about how much you would be able to communicate in their language.




Information References

Batalova, J. et al. (2021). Frequently requested statistics on immigrants and immigration in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states-2020

Camera, L. (2016). The increase of immigrant students tests tolerance. U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/articles/2016-01-05/number-of-immigrant-students-is-growing

National School Board Association (2018). Elements of successful schools. https://www.nsba.org/ASBJ/Past-Issues/april/elements-successful-schools

Romero, F. J. (2020). ‘Brain waste’: Highly skilled immigrants struggle to fill workforce gaps. Kpbs. https://www.kpbs.org/news/midday-edition/2020/01/08/brain-waste-highly-skilled-immigrants-struggle-fil

Szaflarski, M. & Bauldry, S. (2019). The effects of perceived discrimination on immigrant and refugee physical and mental health. Adv Med Sociol, 19, 173-204. 10.1108/S1057-629020190000019009. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6553658/



Media Reference

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Things First: Start with Tiny Steps

Image
  According to Camera (2016) , a quarter of all children in the US are either first or second generation immigrants. This means that their academic skills play a significant role in schools’ achievement as a whole. However, there is a big achievement gap between immigrant students and US born students. One of the biggest reasons is their languages. Murphey (2014) explains that English-learning students scored 40% lower than native English-speaking students in both reading and mathematics. This means that if schools successfully improve immigrant students’ academic skills, that will significantly improve the entire school’s achievement. All schools highly value an improvement of their students’ academic skills. However, how can we do so? Of course, practical and organizational strategies are needed, such as hiring more teachers who can teach English as Second Language, but there is a thing that everyone, including board members and teachers, can start in every educational setting today
Read more

Let's Not Forget to Polish Ourselves for Others

Image
  We have talked and learned about discrimination against immigrants and how we can address it, but what about ourselves? When we can’t even take care of ourselves and keep ourselves healthy, we can’t take care of, understand, and emphasize with others. Self care includes things that are very simple such as eating healthy and exercising well. These sound very easy, but they are the most important aspects in our lives because they are the basis of our wellbeing. If we are not physically healthy, our mind will not be capable of dealing with other aspects in our lives such as work and relationships with others. Mental health is also very important, of course. We should integrate some activities, such as seeing friends, doing something fun everyday, finding ways to relax, etc. in our daily lives in order to stay mentally healthy ( Mental Health America, n.d. ). Benefits of self care are significant because self care does not only help us to stay healthy but also makes us better carer for o
Read more

Work Synergistically: Team Work Makes the Dream Work

Image
  When I look up organizations that try to eliminate discrimination against immigrants or address any similar goals, many organizations and coalitions can be found. For example, Interfaith Immigration Coalition is a partnership that fights for immigrant justice as well as tries to improve freedom of religion and confront any discrimination against minor religions (Interfaith Immigration Coalition, n.d.) . Also, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization that tries to improve systemic equality among all people who live in the states. One of the ACLU's areas of focus is immigrants. They explain, “The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights of immigrants and to combating public and private discrimination against them” (ACLU, n.d.) . Moreover, Oxfam is a non-governmental charitable organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice (Oxfam, n.d.) . Oxfam is a British founded organiz
Read more