The Integration Imperative: The Children of Low-Status Immigrants in the Schools of Wealthy Societies

Abstract

Because demographic shifts will affect their labor forces in the immediate future, rich societies will have to face up to the challenge of integrating the children of low-status immigrants, such as Mexicans in the United States and Turks in western Europe. The performance of educational systems is critical to meeting this challenge. We consider how three features of such systems—the division of labor among schools, families, and communities; tracking; and inequalities among schools—impact immigrant-origin children. In general, children from low-status immigrant families lag behind the children from native families but for reasons that differ from one system to another. Each system can profit from the experiences of the others in attempting to ameliorate this disparity.