In Nancy Foner’s “From Ellis Island to JFK,” she discusses transnationalism and compares the transnational migrants of 100 years ago to the ones of today. Many aspects of immigration are different from back then, mainly technology and education.
Though I am not myself a transnational migrant, nor my parents, I agree with and understand everything that Foner was saying. Being a transnational migrant today has a completely different meaning than it did a century ago. Today, one can simply send an e-mail or use the telephone to keep in contact with their family in another country. Back then, one would have to wait weeks, months, maybe even years at a time before being able to go back home or contact their family.
Education, or lack thereof, also played a major part of transnationalism, and still continues to today. Asian families were generally more well-to-do back then, so had more money for education than families from other countries, such as Italy and Spain. Asia also has better schools than we do in America, so they were already a step ahead when they came and migrated here. However, the influx of immigrants leads to overcrowding of schools, which is a major problem today, especially as so many schools are being forced to close because of inadequate attendance. Overcrowding eventually leads to lower grades, so the immigrants who came to America for a better life are not having as much of a better life as they had hoped for. Immigrants who came to America did not expect this, so it is hard for them to adjust to doing worse in school than in their home country, in some cases. It is hard to form a better life for yourself when you cannot even get a better education, which is one of the most important aspects of a “better life.”
