Mobility and the children of Langley Park's immigrant families

Journal of Negro Education, The, Winter 2003 by Hanna, William J

"The System." It is easy to blame the children and their families for poor school performance. But jurisdictional governance and school system practices clearly are contributing factors. This is perhaps not the place to explore various issues of structural inequality and marginalization by the public sector, but some points should be mentioned briefly. One is that during the decade of immigrant majority in Langley Park, the county government appears not to have served the area well. For instance, the schools are enrolled well beyond capacity; there are numerous reports of police misbehavior towards residents; a community center is primarily used for a regional senior center and regional government administrators' offices; and there is not one public bench in the neighborhood. It is not clear whether the situation is due to being in a jurisdiction with a modest resource base, or the circumstances of an immigrant minority within a minority jurisdiction, or some mixture of factors.5 Either way, it does not provide an incentive to develop roots in the county. Indeed, many residents expressed to me or members of my research team their hope that they will be able to move to a nearby jurisdiction-and quite a few have.

Neighborhood. A recent scholarly focus on neighborhood effects has led to insights about the importance of peers, models, and social capital. Turner (1998) writes:

Where we choose to live matters-not only for our own families but also for the future of the metropolitan region as a whole. The neighborhoods in which we live not only affect our day-to-day quality of life, but may also determine our risk of being victimized by crime and violence, the quality of our children's public education, and our access to jobs, income, and wealth accumulation. (p. 1)

Other scholars write about the impact of being around educational success (Williams, Davis, & Miller-Cribbs, 2002), ambition (Spenner & Featherman, 1978), and social capital (Coleman, 1988). Even a schoolchild's perception of her/his neighborhood is associated with school success (e.g., Nash, 2002), and Langley Park is somewhat stigmatized.

In Langley Park, neighborhood activities are limited due to the long work hours of many parents and their teenage children,6 the fear of crime and of the police (leading to a disinclination to be outdoors after dark), and a severe shortage of public community facilities. Mentors demonstrating success and networks helpful for upward mobility are limited by the relative lack of adult success and discretionary time, an apparent lack of family support for participation in mentoring activities, and a peer environment that in general does not emphasize school success.

The absence of many models of adult success is due in part to the lack of education and skills among the adults. However, it is also due to the negative models provided by immigrant adults who had educational and other indicators of success in their home countries but not in the United States. For instance, I recently met with a group of seven adult women to talk about neighborhood issues. Three of the women were educationally successful in their home countries but could not find appropriate work (indeed, hardly any work) in their new home country because of the nontransferability of credentials. One woman, an architect, asked if I knew anyone who needed house cleaning.