CAPSTONE ESSAY

Justin Green

HISD
[Course title]

In order to find the root cause of a problem, a person must investigate what could
be the problem and build solutions off of that. While flipping through files, Justin found a
report card with horrible grades plastered on the sheet of paper. It was the report card of
a child of course, but nonetheless these grades were shocking. The child was still in
elementary and was already what seemed to be on their way to being held back a grade
because of these grades. Although some of the classes many people struggled with
when they were kids, there was still a problem with this because as Justin kept looking
he found a pattern. Immigrant and refugee children were struggling in classes and
evidence points to many factors.
Catholic Charities is an organization that works with immigrants and refugees
from other countries to aid them get a form citizenship here in the U.S. In this century,
the amount of people that have emigrated from another country to the U.S has
undoubtable increased substantially. Catholic Charities is just one of the thousands of
charities that provide aid to these immigrants and refugees. In those millions of
immigrants are of course children whom come into the U.S with their parents to find
better opportunities. For those children, a better opportunity starts in the schools here in
the U.S. However, foreign born children have a difficult time adjusting to school and
perform poorly academically. These children have the same ability to learn just as the
children born in the U.S, they just need a little help.
Language, Math, Reading, Science, etc. are all subjects that some children born
in the U.S have trouble with. For their adult family members, one of their biggest
obstacles is learning the language here. There are many adults in the U.S who came

here from another country and have been here for over a decade but still do not know
the English language. It is more difficult for an immigrant or refugee from an entirely
different country to learn an entirely new system of learning here in America. One of the
biggest obstacles refugees and immigrant have in America is adapting to the new
culture here. Culture factors into a huge role in immigrant and refugees actions here in
the U.S. Immigrants and refugees have been living in one culture for their entire life and
coming into America which is diverse in hundreds of cultures. There is aid for
immigrants and refugees to help children academically and adults with the language,
but the problem is these immigrants and refugees are too afraid to go, there are not any
in the vicinity of where they live, or a different reason. What can be fixed so that
immigrants and refugees can function here in the U.S.?
In 2013, approximately 41.3 million immigrants live in the United States
that was 13% of the U.S population. Furthermore, 6 percent of that number ranged from
ages 5-17; this means nearly half of that population were children. This meant more
children would enroll into schools and it will only increase. Especially with the conflicts
happening in Syria and other regions in the Middle East, there are sure to be millions of
more refugees that come here to the United States. The language is more than likely
what immigrants and refugees struggle with. They probably have been speaking and
have been around one language for their entire life. So learning English is something
that these immigrants and refugees never bother learning or have a difficult time
learning it. However, kids at a young age tend to pick up English much faster than their
parents. For example, kids who can fluently speak English are usually the translators for
their parents.

In order to reach out to these immigrants and refugees, we should go through the
children since they are their parents translators. Not being able to speak English here in
the U.S is a huge barrier for the parents; it isolates them from being able to do things
like find a job or just communicate. Their children are not going to always be with them,
so if the parents need something that requires them to speak English then they are not
able to. It will even be more difficult if there is no one that speaks their language there to
translate for the parents. This is why going through the children is the best way to get to
the parents to help them speak English. If we can find out ways that help adults speak
English, then those techniques can be used with children to help them learn the English
language. The same applies for any other subject these children struggle in. Guidance
from teachers who teach and tutor with students from other countries can be very
beneficial, even bringing them in to help sometimes is beneficial to the children and
possibly their parents. Parents do not like to see their kids struggle. Kids are often
placed into classes by their age rather than by their ability, and for those who are unable
to speak English, its virtually impossible to keep up. Additionally, parents may not have
the education or language skills to assist their children, and they may not be able to
communicate with faculty to address the problem.
According to UCLA, stress of coping with a new language, culture and dealing
with the negatives like racism, discrimination causes them to feel very uncomfortable in
America. Additionally immigrant and refugee students reported feeling that teachers
view them in unfavorable ways, as well as isolation from peers. This all plays a huge
role in their life and can affect how they learn.

Looking at this data, it can be concluded that in 10 more years there will be more
immigrants and refugees that will come to the U.S with more and more children coming
as well. As more immigrants and refugees come to the U.S, there will be a demand for
more aid for immigrants and refugees. Immigrants and refugees come to America for a
better opportunity, they will want to learn if we provide help to them. For example, if
every charity like Catholic Charities were to have a tutoring program for the children
then possibly that little help can propel them in their classes.
It can be concluded that adults who come to America with their children and do
not speak the language of course need help too. Aid to both parties could aid them here
in America when trying to communicate with people who speak English. As stated
above, children learn English faster than their parents, so it is even possible that the
child can teach the parent English. This would reduce stress for both the child and
especially the parent if this were to happen. Cultural difference is one of the main
causes for both the parent and child to feel isolated from the rest of society. Things here
in America could be totally different over in their country; immigrants and refugees come
to America for something better.
Something better would probably be being able to feel like being culturally
accepted here in America even with the very different culture here. Racism and
discrimination not only affects immigrant and refugee children but their parents as well.
It keeps them from landing jobs or even getting a place to stay. So with the millions of
more immigrants and refugees that will come to America in the upcoming years, places
like Catholic Charities is needed. Additional organizations should be set up in order to

aid these immigrant and refugees later in the future so schools and places like Catholic
Charities wont be crowded.
An interview done with Elise Debroeck at Catholic Charites shows the
perspective of a different person and what they deal with. According to Elise, an
attorney that works at Catholic Charities Crime Victims Department, says that most of
their clients are immigrants or refugees that predominantly speak a different language.
The main language these people speak are Spanish which is why most attorneys know
or learn Spanish before they work at Catholic Charities. Even some of the interns there
help with translating documents and other important information for the attorneys there
because of the overflow of people. In this department, Elise and other employees work
with victims of crime at any age, which can be under the age of 18 at times.
Helping people is a part of America and its ethics. We cannot deny immigrants
and refugees the chance at a better opportunity here in America, but there are a few
unanswered questions to aiding immigrants and refugees. Even if the extra aid like
tutoring is set up in organizations like Catholic Charities and schools throughout the
U.S, is it guaranteed that immigrants and refugees will accept this aid by attending
these aiding sessions? America is morally obligated to provide help, but it is all up to
immigrants and refugees to accept it or not. Persuasion could work in convincing people
that this would help. Giving immigrants and refugees incentives to committing to these
sessions would pull people into schools, and places like Catholic Charities.
There are always cases were people cant be helped because there is not
enough funding or other reasons. So what if places like schools and charities doesnt
have funding to aid immigrants and refugees? This would be probably the most difficult

aspect of the impending increase of immigrants and refugees that will come to America
in the coming years. The answer to this would lie beyond just charities and schools, this
would go up to congress and it would be up to them to decide. However, anyone can
help fund if even its a little by simply donating to these charities and schools that could
aid immigrants and refugees. It does not have to be just money, it can be materials to
help a charity or school to get started. Another question that can be posed is how would
America accommodate all these incoming people? The usually come in with limited to
no amounts of money, so what can be done to help them not only live here but get a job
here. Catholic Charities is already helping immigrants and refugees with this problem,
but there will need to be more organizations like this.
There was a bunch of information to be taken in. The most that Justin learned
was about the amount of immigrants and refugees that came here just in 2013 alone. As
well as the face that immigrants and refugees usually want a better opportunity here in
America but are placed into a position where they cannot seek out the help they need.
Many rely on their own children for aid, and some are bound by their cultural difference.
In the future if Justin were to look back at this essay, this information would probably
impact him to do something to aid these immigrants and refugees if he has not already.
A donation to a local charity or school that helps immigrants and refugees, or even
volunteering at that school or charity.
This was Justins first time writing about a subject like this and he went into it not
knowing what he was going to write. But with the help of the sources Justin had access
to, he was able to get through it. In this process, Justin learned that he was very
resilient. Justin simply taught himself a lesson because he knew nothing about this topic

until he researched the topic and interviewed different people.. This entire process was
new because Justin had to use an almost entirely different system of writing, analyzing,
and concluding what he researched. For this essay, Justin had to interview different
people which was again something he has never done before this essay. Doing that
showed me that hes improved on his social skills. Justin does not think he will go into a
career of being an attorney like attorneys at Catholic Charities because it is not what he
want to do personally. The reason Justin decided to intern at Catholic Charities is
because of their Crimes Victims Department. At one point in his life he had the idea of
doing something that related to crime like a police officer. Now that he has changed his
plans from being a police officer to an Engineer, he thought it would be interesting to
learn a little about what attorneys do with victims of crime. He learned that it doesnt
hurt to have a little knowledge of something even if he doesnt want to pursue a career
in it at the moment. Right now Justin is interning at Catholic Charities and he may
continue to do so later in life, but pursuing a career as an attorney is something he is
more than sure he will not do.

Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. "Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants

and Immigration in the United States." Migrationpolicy.org. N.p., 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 10
Dec. 2015.
Abstract. "Immigrant Children and Youth: Enabling Their Success at School." A
Center Policy Brief (n.d.): n. pag. Http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/immigrant.pdf.
Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
"Welcome to the Online Archive of the Old PublicEye.Org Website."
PublicEye.org. Political Research Associates, 8 Dec. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.
Thomas, Rachel. "Tips: Teaching English to Migrants and Refugees in the UK."
Https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/tips-teaching-english-migrants-andrefugees-uk. N.p., 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.
Nuez, Christina. "The 7 Biggest Challenges Facing Refugees and Immigrants in
the US." Https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/the-7-biggest-challenges-facingrefugees-and-immig/. Global Citizen, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.