H-525 Immigration, Education, and Identities in the United States
Vivian Shuh Ming Louie
The resumption of large-scale immigration to the United States over the last 40-plus years has changed the national fabric of America. Today, more than 60 million people in the United States—about 22 percent of the total population—are immigrants and the children of immigrants. In this course, we will map out what we know about this important population in American schools. We will begin with a historical overview of what we have learned from the schooling encounters and identity experiences of the “old” immigration. How did the immigrants and their descendants from the first large-scale wave of immigration in the late 19th to early 20th centuries fare when it came to schooling, social mobility, and identity? What is different and/or similar about this “new” immigration and the social contexts immigrants are encountering? How are immigrant children experiencing schooling (K-12 and higher education), and how are their experiences different and/or similar to those of nonimmigrant children? What kinds of identities are they forming and will likely form? What are the policies that have been used to address this diverse population, and how have they worked or not worked? What should we be thinking more about as we look toward future policy initiatives?
Visit the course Web site
(Some resources on the course Web site may require a Harvard PIN number)