Sunday, August 26, 2007

U.S.-Mexico Education Influences

Food, art, music, and dance. Each can be classified as American products of influence by Mexican Heritage. Residing in Tucson, Arizona provides many different means for why Arizonans are in fact, influenced by living so close to the border, and vice versa.

I think the biggest influence Mexico has had on the U.S. and the U.S. with Mexico, can best be related to the continual struggle to provide a good education for our children. Here is what I would like to explore this semester: How American schools are adapting to and accommodating the wants and needs of Hispanic children. How are American schools’ values different from Mexican schools’ values? On the other side of the spectrum, how are Hispanic children altering and shifting their ways of learning to fit American schooling curriculum? In many ways, both spectrums share elements of influence on one another. For example, American schools are working to accommodate the needs of our Hispanic children, as we read in an article entitled “Exito Bilingue: Promoting Spanish literacy in a dual language immersion program.”

The article reports that Davis Bilingual Magnet School is turning to a program called Exito Bilingue, to encourage and support “dual language schooling.” Because of the location of the school (downtown Tucson) and the specific needs of each student, creating such a program has proven beneficial to the students of Davis Bilingual Magnet School. Such attempts are greatly aiding Hispanic children in becoming familiarized with American education. Check out the article below.

Another school in our community that is working hard to accommodate the increasing rate of Hispanics is Hollinger Elementary School, where according to "An Ethnographic Approach to Multicultural Learning," “more than 92 percent of the students are Mexican-American."

The following are efforts Hillinger Elementary has made :

*Reducing or making free the prices of lunches
*Offers a bilingual program
*Offers a family support center that counsels and advises.
*Primary mission: to produce students that are able to fully become apart of the community.

This is just a slice of what I will be exploring this semester. I really look forward to delving into the issue of border education and exploring any personal thoughts on the matter, as time progresses. Thanks for reading!

Friday, August 24, 2007

My Blog Entry Introduction

Welcome to my blog! First off, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Danielle Chapot and I am a senior at the University of Arizona. I am majoring in Journalism and loving it! I’m excited to update my blog and hope all of my readers enjoy what is to come this semester!