Immigration: High School and Respondents Essay

Submitted By Janned2
Words: 4019
Pages: 17

INTRODUCTION This paper will explore the academic success of second generation Dominicans. It will discuss how second generation Dominicans are breaking the academic stereotypes they inherited from the first generation of Dominican immigrants. Much research has been done on the migration of first generation to the United States, but little has been covered on the children of these immigrants, the second generation Dominicans. It is imperative to place close attention to this group and explore their adaptation to the American society. This topic is of special interest to me because I was curious to find studies that conclude that second generation Dominicans are academically succeeding better than the first generation and have improved their economic status much more than their parental immigrants. This paper will include six sections. The introduction will follow literature review relevant to the topic and the succeeding sections will include the hypothesis, followed by the research design, analysis and conclusion.
LITERATURE REVIEW In order to have some understanding as to why Dominicans migrate to United States we must explore the variables that have driven this group to leave their homeland, Dr. Ramona Hernandez a sociology professor at City College of New York sheds some light on this phenomena: ‘’Dominicans left their homeland pressured by economic needs, the desire to improve their lives, and encouraged by a de facto immigration policy that facilitated their exodus. Once in the U.S., most Dominicans encounter an economy that increasingly demands skills and levels of schooling they do not possess. Rather than a prosperous life, in the new land, Dominicans face high unemployment levels and an alarming state of poverty. Paradoxically, while the needs of Dominicans continue to be unmet in the new society, the social policies and the conditions that push them out of their country remain in effect.’’ (Hernandez, 2004)As explained by Dr.Hernandez, many Dominicans came to United States to improve their economic status however by not having high educational skills or technical skills they are unable compete for higher paying jobs, forcing them to menial wages and thus stay in poverty. Dominicans have had a preference for New York. According to the U.S. census, in 1990 there were 511,297 Dominicans living in the United States, and over 65% of them were residing in the state of New York alone. In the year 2000, the number of Dominicans in the
U.S. had increased to 1,041,910 and in New York City to 554,638. (Hernandez, 2004) Although Dominicans have preferred New York City they have not had much economic success there. According to Dr. Hernandez ‘’Dominicans residing in New York City had the highest levels of poverty and unemployment rates for 1980, 1990 and 1996 when compared to other large racial or ethnic groups. The persistent high rate of poverty among Dominicans is a direct result of a number of socioeconomic variables including low earnings, high incidence of female-headed families with low earnings, employment instability due to structural economic transformation and the loss of blue-collar and low and unskilled jobs, particularly in the manufacturing sector, spatial segregation in low-growth job areas, such as the inner city versus the suburbs, and low educational attainment in a school knowledge based society’‘ (Hernandez, 2004) Attaining a high level of education is as key factor in achieving economic success however as per Dr.Hernandez’s study in 1996 compared to whites, non- Hispanics, and other Hispanic groups in NYC 54.7% of Dominicans had less than a high school education. In 1996 25.0% completed a high school education, 16.3% completed some college and 4.0% completed college or more. This data shows that Dominicans in New York City are not attaining high levels of education .It also suggests that this can be a negative factor in their economic status and could be the reason this group has had