California Scholar Says Most 'New Immigrants' Fail to Assimilate

AgapePress ^ | September 16, 2003 | Chad Groening

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

A California college professor who grew up in a heavily Hispanic-populated area says there has been a major paradigm shift in the type of immigrants that live in California now.

Dr. Victor Davis Hanson teaches classics at California State University, Fresno, one of the 23 campuses in the California State University system. He says when he grew up in the nearby San Joaquin Valley, the majority of the population were Mexican immigrants who had become Americans and who made a genuine effort to become "acculturated" and to assimilate into mainstream American society.

Hanson believes that type of immigration established a healthy pattern for all concerned. "When people came from Mexico in numbers that were smaller and would allow greater chance for assimilation -- along with legalities so that they didn't live in the shadows of society -- they were less likely to be exploited by employers, they were more likely to vote, and they were more likely to learn English," he says.

But now, the professor says, thanks to uncontrolled immigration, the region's population is composed mostly of illegal aliens who live in separate communities, isolated from mainstreaming influences.

"The results have been that today's immigrant from Mexico is less likely to be confronted with an environment that promotes integration, English mastery, and fundamental basic civic education, and is much more likely to be here illegally," Hanson explains.

The classics instructor believes another factor that further discourages assimilation is the introduction of the separatist principle of "La Raza." The term, Spanish for "the race," has come to be associated with a movement that exalts Hispanic ethnicity and group identity as a response to societal marginalization.

In addition to teaching, Hanson also, like generations of his family before him, works as a fruit farmer in California's central valley. He has also authored a number of books. While sympathetic to Mexico's poor, he has observed the effects of the last 30 years of mass flight from Mexico and endured the crime and social decay associated with illegal immigration.

In his recent book Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (Encounter Books, 2003), Hanson suggests ways to address some of these issues, including reducing legal immigration, patrolling the U.S.-Mexican border more effectively, and insisting on the rapid acculturation of new immigrants.

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

The purpose of the ideology known commonly as "multiculturalism" is to destroy America. In the 21st-century world of fourth-generation warfare, it is likely to succeed.

As war between states fades away, one of the older forms of conflict returning is war between cultures. With the death of state loyalties and identities, identification and loyalty to a culture is coming back strongly. Cultural differences are one of history's main reasons for war. Human nature being what it is, when cultures rub up against each other, the resulting friction often leads to fire. BELIEFS Multiculturalism Threat to National Security - William S. Lind, December 31, 2001

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author is warning that widespread ignorance of American history among students and teachers at high schools and colleges is a major threat to the nation's security. EDUCATION - Senate Panel Hears that Ignorance of U.S. History Poses Major Security Threat

[dennisw]

bttttttttttttttttt

[risk]

A California college professor who grew up in a heavily Hispanic-populated area says there has been a major paradigm shift in the type of immigrants that live in California now.

I think this goes for most immigrants and foreign visitors to California. They're here to make money or bask in our law-respecting republic with all the amenities. Instead of dreaming of becoming Americans, they just want to take what they can from us. From high tech to the farm fields, many of these people hate us and our way of life, but stay for the money and the comfort.

It's time we restrict immigration to those who really want to come here because they love America.

[MD_Willington_1976]

The BCIS (INS) doesn't make it too easy for such people to get in unfortunatly...Check out my profile..

Matt

[gubamyster]

ping

[skeeter]

I'm afraid your right. Anecdotally speaking, I've had the opportunity to get to know many more immigrants, both legal & otherwise, than the average American and although most are perfectly decent people (as you would expect), too many aren't and very few demonstrate interest in becoming one of 'us'.

[My2Cents]

His book is a must-read, as far as I'm concerned.

[My2Cents]

They also remain detached from the general society because they develop this romanticized image of the hellhole they left in order to get here. Cinco de Mayo celebrations, for example, are a farce. Celebrating the Mexican victory over France! How can one find pride in THAT?! EVERYONE beats the French!...If they were truly interested in becoming US citizens, they would wipe their feet of all things Mexican on their way in.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

The ultimate criterion for accepting immigrants is that they must contribute positively to the nation.

[South40]

Actually, they assimilate quite well.

[DoctorZIn]

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[risk]

>>>> Check out my profile..

Good luck on becoming "one of us." I think Americans are naturally an open people who welcome those who sincerely want to come here. After WWII we just took it for granted that the whole world wanted to come here and help us lead the way to global liberty. I can see you're one of the those -- you and your wife and kids will make America even better than it was before you came here.

It's too bad that we're just starting to look like some overnight shelter and an ATM machine to so many -- or a place to take their religious and cultural warfare to a new level.

We are Americans first, not our ethnicities. Anyone who doesn't plan on living by that creed should stay home. And we probably need to slow down immigration for a while until we figure out a fair way to divide the welcome immigrants from the ones who either do nothing to help, or actively harm our democratic way of life.

[Missouri]

It's time we restrict immigration to those who really want to come here because they love America.

No doubt. I'm tired of hearing from our liberal newspapers how we should welcome these people from the Third World into our country and bend over backwards for them. They also tell us that we should not expect them to learn English or have them give up some of their backwards culture.

The bottom line is they want to install their culture in place of the American culture.

[Tauzero]

Thanks for the ping.

[Unknowing]

All too often it seems that public school curricula are comprised of lessons in multiculturalism, with a focus on simplicity and "acceptance."

It seems as if many various demographic groups are isolating themselves away from meaningful common commitments, which have in the past generated American culture. The idea that we are all Americans, doing things the "American way" has been discarded by so many 'new ille-grants.'

If the new illegrants really did love America, and by their conduct really did assimilate our history, law, and traditions, then America and a lot of other nations would enjoy a great benefit.

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

Islam and the Textbooks surveys content in seven widely adopted world history textbooks used across the country in grades seven through twelve. It reviews coverage of jihad, sharia, slavery, status of women, and terrorism, comparing lesson content to prominent histories and recognized sources. It focuses on the high school textbooks adopted in Texas in 2002.

This review faults world history textbooks on one of the most complicated and important subjects teachers face in classrooms today. What may seem on the surface to be a minor curriculum controversy has far-reaching implications for civic education and the promotion of American constitutional values. Its main conclusions include: (1) world history textbooks hold Islam and other non-Western civilizations to different standards than those that apply to the West, (2) domestic educational activists, Muslim and non-Muslim, insist at once on harsh perspectives for the West while gilding the record of non-Western civilizations, (3) Islamic pressure groups and their allies seek to suppress critical analysis of Islam inside and outside classrooms, and distorted textbook content is one symptom of this phenomenon, and (4) publishers respond to pressure groups on account of political expediency and sales. As a result, they are giving American children and their teachers a misshapen view of the past and a false view of the future. The American Textbook Council - Islam and the Textbooks

"Think Like a Muslim" Could it be that an important textbook is proselytizing American 12-year-olds to convert to Islam?

"'Become a Muslim Warrior.'"Militant Islamic lobbying groups want Islam taught as the true religion, not as an academic subject. They take advantage of this indulgence, exerting pressure on school systems and on textbook writers. Not surprisingly, Interaction Publishers thanks two militant Islamic organizations by name (the Islamic Education and Information Center and the Council on Islamic Education) for their "many suggestions."

[MosesKnows]

California Scholar Says Most 'New Immigrants' Fail to Assimilate

You should not stir a melting pot, the contents will blend in their own time.

[Republicus2001]

By the way - didn't Bustamonte swear an oath to uphold our government and not TO SUPPORT THE VIOLENT OVERTHROW OF CALIFORNIA?

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

Eighty-four percent of college students today do not believe that Western culture is superior to Arab culture according to a newly released poll funded by Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (a project by Empower.org) and former Secretary of Education William Bennett. Who Will Defend American Values?

[Unknowing]

Thanks for the links, Vin; I downloaded the PDF report and will read it. Then I'll give it to a teacher friend.

Obviously this trend of multiculturalism is a threat to our national security. The arguments to check the scope of its dastardly influence are only now being crafted, it seems.

If it's not "Islam means peace," then it's "the Aztecs were better than the Europeans." "All religions are valid, except Christianity," is sometimes the message. And always it's "you are xenophobic and racist if you won't let them walk all over us." They smile when they say it, but the hostility is clear, more than just a threat.