Category Archives: Reading Responses

Developments in both transnationalism and education for immigrants over the past hundred years almost perfectly embodies the changing nature of the terms “Americanization”–and, to some extent, the very nature of America itself. Where immigrants were once punished for speaking their … Continue reading →

Nancy Foner adequately summarizes many of the experiences held by immigrants in relation with schooling, and their connections to their homeland in these two chapters of the book. Foner mentions that transnational migrants of a hundred years ago, and those … Continue reading →

I was totally able to relate to this week’s chapters in Foner’s  From Ellis Island to JFK because they really read like the story of my immigrant life in New York City.  I came here and maintained my ties with Israel, … Continue reading →

When I came across Nancy Foner’s discussion about the transnational patterns of Jews in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I was quite surprised. Everything I had learned about Jewry in Eastern Europe (my ancestry) told me that pervasive … Continue reading →

I found the readings about The Madonna of 115th Street and Race and Religion Among the Chosen People of Crown Heights particularly interesting because they were the ones that stressed religion the most this entire semester.  The two works’ discussions of religion, Catholicism … Continue reading →

The concept of segmented assimilation presented in the Zhou and Portes article as being shaped by systems of class and racial stratifications has several connections with Foner’s two chapters focusing on transnationalism and education for recent immigrants. Transnational immigrants are … Continue reading →

An important myth about education that came up in Nancy Foner’s From Ellis Island to JFK: New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration was the myth that immigrants stressed their children to do well in school. Because of the stress … Continue reading →

From Nancy Foner’s “From Ellis Island to JFK” we can see how New York City has become a different place for the immigrants of today. Instead of trying to find jobs as soon as possible, many of the younger immigrants … Continue reading →

1)   How old are you? 2)   What is your ethnic background? 3)   Were you born in the United States?  If not, where?  When did you come here? 4)   What language(s) do you speak? 5)   What is your occupation?  Do you … Continue reading →