4 ms·

I’m not convinced that ESL families is the main difficulty facing Hispanic children. I’ll accept that there are disadvantages to Hispanics but having ESL parent

I’m not convinced that ESL families is the main difficulty facing Hispanic children. I’ll accept that there are disadvantages to Hispanics but having ESL parents seems similar to those faced by almost any other child of immigrants. Perhaps one could argue that due to the visa system, non-Hispanic parents of Americans tend to have higher earning potential? I have no idea whether this is true or not

rayiner 8y ago
Due to the visa system, immigrants in the U.S. are not identically situated to each other. Non-Hispanic immigrants are much more likely to already speak English and have advanced degrees because they come here through visa categories that specifically select for those things.
- xyzzyz 8y ago
  Sure, but their children aren’t. Children of non-Hispanic immigrants that are born in the US do better than US-born children of Hispanic immigrants. While English ability is clearly important in education outcomes, it’s not what makes the biggest difference.
  - rayiner 8y ago
    The level of English proficiency at home has a large impact on the English-language ability even of children that are born here: https://www.ewa.org/blog-latino-ed-beat/us-students-struggling-english-outnumber-kids-born-abroad https://www.ewa.org/blog-latino-ed-beat/us-students-struggli.... E.g. a quarter of California's children are enrolled in programs for English language learners, even though 93% are native born.
    - xyzzyz 8y ago
      I'd be interested in seeing a causative model for this. My guess is that it's purely Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic distinction. The Hispanic kids grow up in mostly uniformly Hispanic environments, so they have less need to learn English, while latter grow up in more diverse environments. If hardly any neighborhood kids and classmates speak your native language, you need to learn English to communicate with them, while if you're Hispanic, chances are you're growing up in a majority-Hispanic neighborhood and are going to majority-Hispanic school, so you can do mostly fine with only basic English skill. The same thing is true about your parents, so poor English proficiency of kids is not caused by poor English proficiency of parents, but rather both are caused by the same factor.

rayiner 8y ago

Due to the visa system, immigrants in the U.S. are not identically situated to each other. Non-Hispanic immigrants are much more likely to already speak English and have advanced degrees because they come here through visa categories that specifically select for those things.

xyzzyz 8y ago
Sure, but their children aren’t. Children of non-Hispanic immigrants that are born in the US do better than US-born children of Hispanic immigrants. While English ability is clearly important in education outcomes, it’s not what makes the biggest difference.
- rayiner 8y ago
  The level of English proficiency at home has a large impact on the English-language ability even of children that are born here: https://www.ewa.org/blog-latino-ed-beat/us-students-struggling-english-outnumber-kids-born-abroad https://www.ewa.org/blog-latino-ed-beat/us-students-struggli.... E.g. a quarter of California's children are enrolled in programs for English language learners, even though 93% are native born.
  - xyzzyz 8y ago
    I'd be interested in seeing a causative model for this. My guess is that it's purely Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic distinction. The Hispanic kids grow up in mostly uniformly Hispanic environments, so they have less need to learn English, while latter grow up in more diverse environments. If hardly any neighborhood kids and classmates speak your native language, you need to learn English to communicate with them, while if you're Hispanic, chances are you're growing up in a majority-Hispanic neighborhood and are going to majority-Hispanic school, so you can do mostly fine with only basic English skill. The same thing is true about your parents, so poor English proficiency of kids is not caused by poor English proficiency of parents, but rather both are caused by the same factor.