Central Americans - Discussion Questions

The article states that in the past 7 years, over 500 thousand Salvadorians and 220 thousand Guatemalans have immigrated to the US. What push/pull factors may have motivated these immigrants?

In the past two decades, Central Americans have become a growing minority in America, and along with Mexican Americans, generally attend inner city schools. Among these two groups, which group tends to perform better in school?

Unlike Mexico, some Central American countries are war torn and politically unstable. How does this affect Central American immigrants work ethic and determination to succeed in school? How does this differ from Mexican Americans born in America?

Suarez mentions in the article that Central Americans “generally perform better in schools and certainly experience different kinds of problems than castelike minorities, such as blacks, Mexican-Americans, and Native Americans”. How do the problems Central Americans have differ from these other groups?

Why did bilingual teachers like teaching Central American students so much?

Although Central American students were hard working and dedicated to their studies, they were discriminated against by the schools. In what way were they discriminated against, and what was the cause of this discrimination?

Why was Suarez so surprised that so many Central American students stayed in school?

The majority of Central American students had one or more members of their family still living in Central America, and reports say that immigrants from El Salvador alone send between 350 million to 600 million dollars a year to their families. What mentality do a lot of Central American students have that could explain the aid they send back to their home country?

How does this sense of duty or responsibility correlate to “survivor guilt”, a condition first described by Bettelheim?

How did economic difficulties for the immigrants affect their hopes of “becoming somebody”?