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| https://childrenatrisk.org/event/immigration-and-education-enforcement-and-impact/ |
Migration represents an important part of human nature. It is a phenomenon that through the years, has adopted very complex ways. Direction of migrations has been determined by the need of adequate resources, tools and places for the development of human beings. However, in further phases, migrations were influenced by territorial expansion and also economic and political interests, which are characteristic of the latest migration movements.
Among the main causes that promote migration both internationally and internally (inside one country) according to the United Nations (2012) are:
• The search for a better life for oneself and one's family;
• Solving disparities between different regions and within the same region;
• The labor (work) and migratory policies of the countries of origin and destination;
• Political conflicts (which promote cross-border migration, as well as movements within the same country);
• The degradation of the environment, including the loss of farmland, forests and grasslands (environmental refugees, for the most part, go to cities instead of migrating abroad);
• The migration of professionals, the most educated young people to fill the gaps in the workforce of industrialized countries.
As can be seen in the causes that promote migration are of economic aspect above all but also, environmental and professional improvement, we could also add that migrations occur as a result of wars, nuclear tests carried out by developed countries ", the elaboration of migratory policies as it is the case of the government of the United States of America.
Recently, the construction of barriers complemented by the use of sophisticated security technologies -of exclusive military use- emerges as the most used migratory control provision ... These barriers serve to satisfy the interests of certain social and political sectors of the North, through the exacerbation of nationalist and chauvinist and xenophobic feelings. Far from stopping migration, the construction of walls on the borders of receiving countries such as the United States and other countries, generates high costs, both material and social, for the populations and communities on both sides, as well as for migrants to travel on new ways that are very dangerous routes.
Immigration and Education
Districts and schools, given their important function, from the educational point of view, are spaces that provide children with the necessary tools and resources for life. Therefore, the districts and particularly the school (and school community) presents a great importance for the development of children at a cognitive and a fully integrated level, which will affect throughout their lives and will depend largely on the strengths and weaknesses, as well as their ideas presented by future those men and women. In this sense, a challenge for education is presented, given the increase in migratory flows and their respective consequences for children who leave their places of origin and for those who remain "alone" as a result of the migration of parents, for such reasons, the role that teachers and educators must play in the care and treatment is very important.
It´s the responsibility of our society and their educational institutions, as well as those with social services to help to facilitate the "participation of different identities" that is, deal with the multi-diversity (we understood "multi-diversity as the social, economical, linguistic, cultural diversity among others), contributing to its development, for this inter/multicultural education must play a fundamental role from a broad conception of curricular design and development, to ensure that children can best accept diversity on the one hand; On the other hand, teachers must be formed and, consequently, adopt the necessary strategies to cover other types of problems such as school performance, interpersonal relationships, the different learning problems of each child to achieve the most harmonious integration possible.
Teachers are the true agents of transformation and educational change, who can directly and actively interfere in the achievement of an adequate integration of the immigrant population, as well as those children who remain abandoned in places of origin.
Talking about teachers, I was there, at the conference and no many teachers were found in the room. At least two people wanted to share their tips and experiences:
After researching about this topic and that conference, my questions and doubts are:
HISD has a school for newcomers "Las Americas", but what about the rest of schools, do they have resources? are their teachers prepared and formed to deal with diversity?
There was one surprise, when the presenters asked for teachers in the room, nobody answered. WOW! Do districts and the system consider teachers as relevant tranformational agents of our societies? Why don´t teachers attend events like this: immigration and education? Knowing that Houston has a high percentage of immigration. We learned that in Houston there are more than 600,000 undocumented immigrants.
Why don´t districts and other educational institution offer more professional development trainings/courses to help teachers understand diversity better and provide them with strategies?
Do other social and political powers do enough to give answers to this issue: immigration and education? Why don´t they do more partnerships and networking?
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