EDL 880B Qualifying Paper 2: Week 2

High School Attrition in Immigrant Students
Name
Institution

High School Attrition in Immigrant Students
Factors That Influence High School Attrition in Immigrant Students Living in America
Cultural barrier is the major factor that influences high school attrition in immigrant students living in America
The topic of high school attrition among immigrant students residing in America is of great importance because the rate of high school attrition in the US is worrying. So far, reports have indicated that over 1.2 million high school students drop out in the US yearly, which presents a significant risk to the future economic outcomes of the country. Minority groups account for over a quarter of the total students in the US. Hence, many learning institutions are not left out in relation to immigrant students. Nevertheless, the number of high school students who fail to graduate is extremely high among immigrant groups. Immigrant students experience many challenges on various aspects of the education, which is the cause of a large number of dropout cases. With regards to culture, providing education to any student in a generalized environment has proved difficult. Also, raising children in a different culture is a significant obstacle to many immigrant parents living in the US (Daller & Phelan, 2013). Furthermore, it is evident that immigrant students face discrimination in various aspects due to common stereotypes about particular cultures, which is a cause of school dropout.

The main purpose of this paper is to support the argument that culture barriers are the major factors that influence high school attrition in immigrant students.
There are numerous cultural issues that immigrant students face, that are difficult to realize and have a great impact on the rate of high school attrition. The majorities of immigrant children originate from the third world countries and lack high-quality educational background compared to other American children. It means that when these children first join any school, they are far much behind than their counterparts regarding academic skills. This aspect presents significant challenges to both the students and the educators as they always seem behind the rest of the population (Usher & Kober, 2012). It leads to discrimination in schools, which eventually causes extensive negativity and undesirable academic outcome. All high school immigrant students are prone to this kind of discrimination as they try to fit in a different culture. For educators, it is common to hold low academic expectation for immigrant students, which makes them feel segregated. These students have to adapt to a culture where learning a different language is a requirement. In their study, Daller and Phelan (2013) base a qualitative investigation on language proficiency as an important aspect of academic achievement in countries that use English such as America. The study reveals that the language proficiency is deemed as an important factor for academic success in English speaking countries. Language proficiency is required for academic success. Hence, this study supports the argument that culture is a major hindrance to academic success. From their cultures, immigrant students acquire different ways of passing information non-verbally. Culture and language have close links, and sometimes language is understood as a way a culture is expressed. It is language that enables people to express their thoughts, and sometimes, it is assumed that the thinking ability is greatly influenced by the language a person uses.
The values and traditions of the environment have a great impact on the way people engage in thoughts. Martirosyan, Hwang, and Wanjohi (2015) argue that people raised in different cultures and speak different languages tend to view the world differently. Hence, it is important to understand the cultural background of every language while learning new languages. If educators teach a language without familiarizing students with the important cultural aspects of the language, it is likely to capture inaccurate meanings for many aspects being discussed in class. It is probable for such students to use the language in an inappropriate manner within the incorrect cultural perspective. These barriers have a long-term negative impact on the overall performance of the immigrant students. Reports have found that students fail to academically thrive if the language they speak at home and school is different. According to Usher and Kober (2012), parents should support what students are taught in schools to ensure they thrive academically. Nevertheless, many immigrant parents are extremely conservative and raising children in different culture presents numerous obstacles. Hence, immigrant students face conflicts at home due to varying levels of acculturation (Kim, Suh, Kim & Gopalan, 2012). For instance, in a qualitative study, Kim et al. (2012) found that Korean immigrants in the US insist on the value of particular cultural aspects such as Confucianism. It means that the children find themselves tied between two cultures that are exceedingly dissimilar. According to the authors, parental motivation is an important factor for student success. A student without parental support on academic matters lacks the required competence and positivity about academics, which many lead to eventual academic failure.
Also, from the findings of Martirosyan et al. (2015), it is difficult for immigrant students to understand various messages in school because their culture has different requirements for non-verbal cues. For instance, on the issue of maintaining eye contact, in some cultures, looking at an older person directly to the eyes while communicating is a sign of disrespect. On the other hand, some cultures require that people look each other directly while communicating. For such students, looking at educators directly is unacceptable. On the contrary, the educators may interpret such an action as a sign of unmindful students. The immigrant students may think that the educators are practicing racism. The continuous misinterpretations may result in feelings of abandonment and rejection among these students, which may have a great impact on their academic life. It is a major reason why attrition levels have remained high among immigrant students. Moreover, individualism is an important aspect of the educational system in the Western world. In most cases, students are required to work independently through guidance. Students with a cultural background of communal mentality may find it difficult to thrive in the Western educational system. Some of the immigrant students fail to understand that educators may not be there to always provide detailed support on every aspect of their academic life. Others find difficulty in catching up with the way of things in American schools and fear participating or speaking up on issues that affect them.
Many scholars concur with the idea that cultural barriers greatly impact on academic success among immigrant students, and they are the major contribution of attrition among these students. Still, Portes and Rivas (2011) argue that the diversity and cultural identity of immigrant students should be respected and supported. This argument is refuted by the findings of Martirosyan et al. (2015), that cultural differences hinder effective learning. Hence, immigrant students have to adapt to the American culture for effective learning. The authors call for the need to identify the disparity involving pedagogies of schools within various cultural settings to deal with issues facing immigrant students. The latest advancement in addressing the barriers of cultural barriers is through educators’ behavior. Various behavioral values enable educators to establish strong relations with culturally diverse students to facilitate academic success. The aspect of appreciating and accommodating the differences in students has been emphasized. Also, educators focus on teaching immigrant learners to cope with the cultural context of the learning environment. But, there is a need for further research to determine ways in which immigrant parents can be involved in overcoming cultural barriers to addressing the issue of high school attrition among immigrant students in America. For instance, it is apparent that English proficiency has a great impact on academic success among immigrant students. Hence, Kim et al. (2012) suggest that immigrant parents should support the learning of the language, as well as the new culture because it will facilitate effective learning and the development acceptance among immigrant students. For educators to provide adequate support to immigrant students, they have to be truthfully apprehensive about immigrant students and bothered about their problems at the individual level.
In summary, the arguments in this paper support the idea that cultural barriers are the major factors that contribute to high school attrition among immigrant students in America. Cultural barriers are wide-ranging, and the major ones include those linked to language, assimilation, and discrimination. Cultural issues are the most difficult factors to address because children raised within the context of a different culture think and communicate differently. Nonetheless, parents and teachers should work jointly to effectively address cultural barriers to facilitate academic success among immigrant students.
References
Daller, M. H., & Phelan, D. (2013). Predicting international student study success. Applied Linguistics Review, 4(1), 173-193.
Kim, J., Suh, W., Kim, S., & Gopalan, H. (2012). Coping strategies to manage acculturative stress: Meaningful activity participation, social support, and positive emotion among Korean immigrant adolescents in the USA. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 19(7), 1-10
Martirosyan, N. M., Hwang, E., & Wanjohi, R. (2015). Impact of English proficiency on academic performance of international students. Journal of International Students, 5(1), 60-71
Portes, A., & Rivas, A. (2011). The adaptation of migrant children. The future of children, 21(1), 219-246.
Usher, A., & Kober, N. (2012). 4. What Roles Do Parent Involvement, Family Background, and Culture Play in Student Motivation?. Center on education policy, 4(6) 1-14.