Gary Gerstle and John Mollenkopf’s “The Political Incorporation of Immigrants, Then and Now” studies the similarities and differences between two waves of immigration (1880-1930 and post-1965 to present), and how, in turn, each wave has interacted with civil society and the political sphere.
What most caught my attention was Gerstle and Mollenkopf’s commentary on Laurie Olsen’s essay, which honed in on the role of the education system in the U.S., and how, as a formal government institution, schools influence how and to what extent immigrant children, or the U.S.-born children of immigrants, are accepted by society. Olsen based her study on students in a California high school in the 1990s, and aimed to get the most accurate account of the students experience by approaching the students themselves. Olsen made some interesting observations, the most prominent being that “civic education” has, according to student experience, “become synonymous with learning English.” Taking this into consideration, it appears that assimilation to American society, is, first and foremost, based on the ability to speak English.
Other aspects of “civic education, [which include] learning about democracy, opportunity, or civic rights or duties” are put on the back-burner, if taught at all. Instead, students, both consciously and unconsciously, are subject to racial tensions that fill the halls, galvanizing students into aligning themselves with a specific racial category. This discourages unity and assimilation and, instead, gives students the impression that they can only relate to those with the same racial background as them.
