Essay-#5- Jason Preston-Immigrant Transnational Societies Effect Future Social Member?s Opinions of American

Immigrant Transnational Societies Effect Future Social Member's Opinions of American
School.

    Immigrant students from Mexico are an ever-growing force within American public schools.  Latinos are the fastest growing minority in the United States, (Ericsdigest.org 2000) and those of Mexican origin are the largest population.  This increase in transnational immigrants into the United States has an affect on labor markets, community advocacy, politics, and most significant to this research, education. "Research that connects transnational cultural geographies with economical processes, particularly those focusing on the rise of the network society and the shift to regimes of flexible accumulation, is important to understand the structural factors of how globalization works", (Mitchell pg 77).  As immigrant children from Mexico continue to enter American school systems in large numbers, this commonality between them and those they closely communicate and socialize with back home, has an overall effect on the future dynamic of that transnational society. The term transnational society in a global since in not confined to a population in a given geographical area, but also a general population of people in groups that shares something in common.  The communication between immigrants and future immigrants can be considered transnational because it often brings individuals who live in separate nation states together in physical groups and social exchanges.  Communication between transnational immigrants and future transnational immigrants has an overall impact on the future of transnational societies in the American schools system.
    "The increased concentration of transnational immigrants into the American schools context can overtime lead to the formation of a transnational social space if the action of the students serve to keep ties with their country of origin", (Brittain 2001).  A majority of minority students often attend schools in America that are highly segregated by characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and spoken language.   In many situation co-nationals makeup the major peer group in American schools and becomes the main source of friendship for the newcomers, creating groups of collective transnational societies present in American schools.
With the use of modern communication technology, view about life in the United States may be rapidly sent back to the countries of origin when these immigrants report and share their experiences as "transnational immigrants" in the United States to their co-nationals in their country of origin.  The passing of information across borders can contribute to a reproduction of expectations, and acceptance of a particular social position of their own specific national group as newcomers learn from their co-nationals (U.S. Immigrants) about life in the United States schools system.
    Current communication between transnational immigrants and future transnational immigrants has an overall global impact on the future of transnational societies in the American school system.  "Giddents connects global processes to modernity, arguing that ?modernity is inherently globalizing", (Sreberny-Mohammadi pg. 6).  As Mexican immigrants within American Schools relay their experience back to their conational counterparts, opinions and expectations about the American schools system are formed prior to an individuals arrival.  The final result is a swayed opinion of future transnational immigrant groups about the quality of education they will be offered in Americanschools, which will ultimately affect the makeup of these transnational societies within the schools systems in the future.



Brittain, C (2001) Voices Across Borders:  How Mexican Immigrants Learn About U.S. Schools in Transnational Spaces. pg 1-23

www.Ericsdigest.org (2000).  Mexican Immigrants in High Schools: Meeting Their Needs.  pg 1-5

Mitchell, K ( 2001). Cultural Geographies of Transnatinality pg 74-84

Sreberny-Mohammadi, A.  (1996).  Globalization, communication and transnational civil society:  Introduction.  In S. Braman and A. Sreberny-Mohammadi (Eds.), Globalization, communication and transnational civil society, pg 1-19

Posted at 09:06AM Jun 22, 2007 by PRESTON, JASON in General  |  Comments[1]