Modern Ethical Issue

The United States and the American Dream

The United States has long been known as the nation of opportunity because of the widespread conviction that anyone, regardless of background, could achieve their goals if they set their minds to it and worked hard enough. As a result, the United States attracts thousands of immigrants each year from all over the world, eager to seek these prospects in what has come to be known as the American Dream. One of the foremost opportunities sought by these immigrants is the opportunity to pursue an education, which is a fundamental human right that may be inaccessible in their countries of origin because of a myriad of reasons ranging from war to extreme poverty. However, once these individuals arrive in the USA, they often struggle to fit in, with this being attributable to both the language barrier and the existent differences between the American culture and the cultures in their places of origin thus necessitating adaptation.

The Role of Education in Acculturation

In the eyes of many people, culture is an important influence on people’s thought processes and how they live their lives. Throughout the semester, most of my work has primarily revolved around working with international students from a variety of countries around the world. The primary objectives of this work were to help the students in acculturating and thus in improving both their academic and personal lives. As a firm believer in the role of education as a tool for economic and social transformation, I opined that providing these students with a firm grounding in American culture would ease their ability to acquire an education. Consequently, by doing this, we could equip the students with practical skills and lessons that were transferable and applicable to their nations of origin upon completion of their studies. These students could potentially apply this knowledge in taking better care of the environment in those areas thus improving their own lives as well as those of their fellow citizens. However, there is the ethical concern that by requiring individuals to acculturate to US practices, the education provided to them fails in cultural appropriateness as well as objectivity and lack of bias.

The Importance of Education as a Human Right

Under several international conventions, for example, the ICESCR, education is regarded as being one of the fundamental rights to which all human beings are entitled. Similarly, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights avers in Article 26 that all people have a right to obtain an education, which should be merit-based and equally accessible to everyone (Claiming Human Rights). A vital part of this education is that it must be acceptable, which means that it is to be relevant, free of any discrimination and culturally appropriate. The education provided must not necessitate the conformance to any ideologies or religious beliefs. Hence, facilitating these immigrant individuals to obtain an education is vitally important because it is a human rights issue and the acculturation may be construed as an attempt to limit its acceptability.

The Personal Importance of Education and Cultural Adaptation

From a personal perspective, helping immigrants settle in and receive a good education is essential because I believe it is only through education that we can safeguard the future. Uneducated people may not recognize the consequences of their actions hence they may continue perpetuating some activities that are harmful to the environment, for example, charcoal burning, out of ignorance. I believe that we have a duty not to be selfish and to be mindful of the welfare of the generations to come after us. Consequently, if we educate people, they can go back to their countries where they will spearhead the fight against the destructive practices that harm our environment.

Experiential Research and the Issue of Immigrant Education

During my service learning, I interacted with many different students drawn from a variety of countries and united by a common goal, which is the pursuit of education. I got to hear about what prompted these students to leave their homelands for a foreign country and for most of them, the reason was that there was a deficiency of opportunities at home. The denial of opportunities to pursue education led to a situation where most of the citizenry did not understand the importance of things such as environmental conservation. Hence, at the meetings, the primary theme was to ensure that the students who had been lucky enough to get these chances to pursue an education did so and used that knowledge in the right way. We sought to ensure that when they went home, the students would not just misuse their education by seeking positions to enrich themselves and instead, they would use them to bring about real change in their communities.

The Context of Immigrant Education in the USA

In any given year, approximately 13% of the total USA population comprises of immigrants (US Census Bureau). The average age of immigration begins in late teenage and continues all the way through to early adulthood, which means that by proportion, the number of immigrant children in the American school system is quite low. Additionally, this means that most migrant individuals seeking an education in the USA are of a college-going age with these individuals showing a strong bias towards technology-based courses. Estimates indicate that approximately a third of all university and college students who obtain degrees from US institutions in STEM fields are foreigners, with this figure rising to half in some states. Most foreign undergraduate students in the USA are of Chinese, South Korean, Saudi Arabian, Indian, Canadian, and Vietnamese origin (National Science Foundation). Consequently, it is expected that these students will struggle with adaptation to the US culture more so because most of them have arrived in the USA as adults and are not native English speakers.

Challenges Faced by Immigrants in the USA

The poor English-speaking skills are among the first problems I experienced during my visits with most students I encountered being timid to make presentations because they were self-conscious about their inability to communicate fluently in English. Additionally, being in a completely different culture from what they were used to seemed quite intimidating for many of the students whom I met. As such, cultural adaptation was another very noticeable issue.

Religious and Ethical Principles

Immigrants, especially those who are younger often have to deal with discrimination and stigmatization arising from their membership of minority groups in their quest to fit into the American culture. An essential concept in the Christian religion is that of showing kindness and tolerance to our neighbors with a case in point being the parable of the Good Samaritan, which implores us to be our brothers’ keepers. Hence, Christians are obligated to welcome their immigrant brothers into their communities with open arms and ensure they do the best they can to help them adapt and settle in.

Besides this, another fundamental concept in Christianity is that of good stewardship, which emphasizes that God owns all resources and as human beings, we are obligated to manage these resources for Him in a responsible manner. One way of engaging in proper management is to take care of our natural environment by engaging in practices that can help to reduce global warming. Besides this, we must also seek to spread the message of the reality of global warming to other people, for example, our immigrant brothers. By doing this, we become good stewards since these individuals will carry the message home with them once they go back after having acquired an education. These immigrants can then educate their fellow citizens in their home countries about the reality of this issue because many uneducated people usually view global warming as a myth. However, they are likely to listen and learn if the message is coming from their fellow citizens.

Possible Solutions and Recommended Actions

Global warming is arguably the world’s most important contemporary problem. The adverse effects of global warming are far-reaching and very severe. One way to address this concern is to spread this message to as many people all around the world as possible while educating people about mitigation measures. By helping immigrants who come to the USA to get an education to settle in, we enable them to get knowledge thus equipping them with the necessary skills to bring change in their home countries. Hence, the potential solution here is to use these American-educated immigrants as ambassadors of change in their home countries.

One recommended action is a policy initiative seeking to introduce a liaison department for international students that will help international students trying to get higher education in the USA to settle in. With foreigners constituting such a significant proportion of the college and university student population in the USA, it is imperative to provide them with care and good reception. As a nation that prides itself on being the home of immigrants and the land of opportunity, we must strive as much as possible to create hospitable conditions for international students. This way, these students can acquire knowledge and use it to help save the world in their respective homes.

Works Cited

Claiming Human Rights. “Article 26.” Claiming Human Rights in Africa, 4 Jan. 2010, www.claiminghumanrights.org/udhr_article_26.html.

National Science Foundation. “S&E Indicators 2014 - Chapter 2. Higher Education in Science and Engineering - Undergraduate Education, Enrollment, and Degrees in the United States.” NSF - National Science Foundation, Feb. 2014, www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-2/c2s2.htm. Accessed 6 Dec. 2017.

US Census Bureau. “American Community Survey (ACS).” Census.gov, www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017.