Presentation Three- Transnational Experience in Colleges and Universities in High Immigration Regions

On February 21st, 2012 as part of my volunteer service at the AIEA Conference I was able to attend several informational presentations on the conference theme “Building a Secure World through International Education.”

When looking through the conference program I wanted to carefully select
sessions that would have relevance to my MAIS concentration, my research interests, and my future career path. I have had an interest in immigration issues since completing my undergraduate degree in Spanish Education so I thought the presentation “Transnational
Experience in Colleges and Universities in High Immigration Regions,” would be
very interesting. The session gave great research proven information about the
changing demographics of Latinos in the U.S. south and how they are affecting
higher education.

The presenters were Maria Elena Reyes and Veronica Lopez-Estrada from the University
of Texas Pan American. They began by giving a brief summary of prior research
they conducted in 2009 of high school students to identify and better
understand the growing number of middle-upper class Mexican-origin immigrant
students attending schools on the Texas-Mexico border. Their continuing
research in 2010 was used to understand the transnational experiences of
Mexican-origin immigrants at one Hispanic serving institution on the
Texas-Mexico border.

The most fascinating part of the presentation for me was the discussion of the
emerging “fresas” population in the Texas-Mexico border region. Traditionally
the immigrant population in the area has been lower income farm migrant workers
who bring their families in search of greater social and economic prosperity
while escaping the hardships in Mexico. Reyes and Lopez-Estrada discuss the
rising population of “fresas” in recent years. Fresas, literally strawberries
in Spanish, is the term Mexican-Americans are using to describe privileged,
middle-upper class Meixcan immigrants in South Texas. Lopez-Estrada and Reyes’ 2009 research discussed that the “fresa” population had a higher success rate in school,
greater respect for authority, highly developed social skills, and higher
“likeability” from community members.

In their 2010 research, college level experiences of Mexico-origin student
populations were compared from the fresa group, working class immigrant groups,
and the U.S. born Mexico-origin student group. Through interviews with research participants, several themes were concluded. Of the 8 themes discussed, the following are the 3 I found most
noteworthy. Within the different Mexican-origin student groups, getting a
college degree is more complicated for low income students and female students
who hold traditional culturally appropriate roles. It was also concluded from
their research that low SES, U.S. born minority youth who attend sub-standard
school can’t compete academically with the fresa population or working class
immigrant students. Finally, proficiency skills in English are recognized as
social capital which U.S. born Mexican-origin students appreciate the most.

I think it is incredibly important for Americans especially to be aware of
immigrant populations, their cultures, and how American culture is becoming
integrated with that of the immigrants’. A cultural blend is certainly not a new concept in America; in fact it is one the nation was founded upon. However, from my point of view and experiences, I think for some reason Americans are become less and less tolerant of
different cultures and perspectives (an uneducated majority at least). Education is one of the best ways to change this and hopefully things like the Dream Act can be enacted and supported.