About one in four youths in the United States are immigrants or children of one, and most appear to be elevating fine: working, studying and advancing at rates comparable to nonimmigrant peers. But a troubled minority offers cause for alarm.
Raised in blighted neighborhoods, alienated from parents and school, disheartened by the prospect of dead-end jobs, these youths risk joining what some scholars have warned could be a “rainbow underclass.”
While poor immigrant families have found economic success in the past, many analysts say today’s generation faces steeper hurdles, especially because good jobs now require more education. The children of those with the least education — most notably Mexicans and Central Americans — are considered especially at risk
Some call this a problem of integration, but perhaps it is integration, but towards aspects of American life that is are generally looked down upon. As Jesselyn from the article says, “If you’re Hispanic, people already expect you to steal, to fight, to be rude, to be ghetto.” “If everyone thinks wrong of you, eventually you’re going to start thinking wrong about yourself.”
That is why there is a good sign that some see the positive:
But other scholars, mining the same stacks of data, find reason for optimism. Even among the immigrant groups considered at risk, most children surpass their immigrant parents in income and education. And on some measures, including employment, they outperform native minorities.
A debate that began with warnings of “second generation decline” now includes scholars who see a “second generation advantage.”
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