Pamela Buhler
White, Craig
LITR 4333
04/19/01

The American Immigrant and Education

Education is vital for an immigrant’s assimilation to dominant American culture and rediscovery of ethnic identity. The immigrant goes through a five-stage process of leaving the old world, journey to the new world, shock, assimilation, and rediscovery. Formal and informal education is fundamental to this process. Public and higher education would be considered formal education. The reconnecting to one’s culture by means of literature and tradition from family or elders using oral story telling and cultural rituals would be informal education. First, second, and third generation immigrants are involved in the formal and informal education process by being the student, teacher, or both. The fiction and nonfiction "Immigrant Narrative" tells the story of the immigrant’s journey by generation.

Author Paule Marshall gives the reader a glimpse of how important education is and what the effects are in her fiction and nonfiction short stories. Marshall is a second-generation Caribbean writer that easily weaves her African American heritage into her writing. She is a "novelist whose works emphasize the need for black Americans to reclaim their African heritage" (www.britannica). "The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen," is a narrative short story that allows

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the reader to develop an understanding of what role education has on an immigrant child (VA 82-89). The story begins with Marshall being a teacher at Columbia University and remembering her childhood in her mother’s kitchen watching and listening to her mother and her mother’s friends (VA 82-83). This would be a blending of formal and informal education with the informal influencing the formal. Marshall considered her mother and her friends poets. Not the type of poet one would image setting and writing verse, but oral tradition poets that take their culture and give it to their children through story telling.

Informal education is more significant than formal education in passing on

values and traditions. Values and traditions of family and culture cannot be taught in a classroom but are given from one generation to another, a passing of rites. The kitchen poets would tell "Old World" stories and "New World" stories. Marshall observed as a little girl that "no subject was beyond" the kitchen poets (84). The women would discuss the local gossip, economy, politics, and home. Home was the old world where they grew up and the picturesque stories would recall memories from a past life. The retelling of the past and looking to the future when they could "buy house" is part of the American dream for an immigrant (85). Later on, Marshall realized the kitchen conversations acted as a "therapy" for her mother and her friend’s since talking was the only means available for expression to these women

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(85). The therapy talking was a continuing of oral tradition and informal education, and the result Marshall turned into a written text.

She grows up and bids farewell to the kitchen corner and proceeds to the Brooklyn Public Library. This transition takes Marshall from oral and informal to written and formal education. A whole new world is opened to her with the ability to read. "The language that Caribbean people speak is an art, yet many writers have not rendered such art in print… Sadly education has been one of the worst enemies of the Jamaican language…" expressed Opal Palmer Adisa (Winds 19). She discovers not just classic writers but "books and stories and poems about ‘The Race’ (as it was put back then, about my people" with text written in dialect (VA 88). Formal public schools did not recognize minority writers during this time period. Marshall expresses she felt cheated by the system since she was not able to learn about people like herself and the history of her heritage (89).

Marshall acknowledges the literary giants in her life: "the group of women around the table long ago. They taught me my first lessons in the narrative art" (89). Marshall returns home to the kitchen and completes stage five of the immigrant journey by affirming the influence of her mother and her friends. Oral literature or informal education taught by a mother and her friends is not available in a book and was just as valuable or more so to Marshall. The traditions taught by first generation through informal education or oral story telling to second and third

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generation immigrants is essential for an immigrant to be able to complete the last process of stage five in rediscovery of ethnic identity.

Paule Marshall wrote a fictional generational narrative, "To Da-Duh, In Memoriam," based off of an actual visit to her grandmother (IA 351-359). The story surrounds a nameless nine-year-old girl visiting her grandmother, Da-Duh, for the first and only time. "To Da-Duh, In Memoriam" is a second-generation American born immigrant returning the old world. The old world is a homeland she has never seen before and a grandmother that has never visited her world, the new world. Da-Duh is embarrassed by family reaction upon the arrival of her daughter and granddaughters. "That’s why I don’t go anyplace with you St. Andrews people, you know. You all ain’t been colonized" (353). The word colonized is referring to the islands being established. Her level of education is not formal but she is confident in how to conduct one’s self in public.

Da-Duh carries a sense of duty as the informal teacher when she takes her granddaughter from one place to another to teach her customs, traditions, and reveal to her the beauty of the island. Da-Duh sees the island’s beauty in the sugar canes, guava, mango, etc… She wants to take her granddaughter around and show it to her for her to see it as beautiful too. This is the informal teaching and oral tradition taught by a first generation or someone that has never left the old world. Da-Duh is not an immigrant because she has never left the old world. The

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granddaughter compares the sugar cane to a dangerous high thick forest, all the while wishing she remained in Brooklyn, the new world environment she is familiar with and considers home (354). Da-Duh said, "I know you don’t have anything this nice where you come from. ‘No,’ I said" (355). Da-Duh is proud of her homeland and heritage and wants to boast of it to her granddaughter.

Da-Duh is educating the granddaughter by asking her if any of the islands beautiful wonders, such as sugar cane, exist in her world or if she even is aware of where it comes from. The granddaughter can only respond, "I’ve got two cavities and I’m not allowed to eat a lot of sugar" (355). A generational gap exists between the teacher and the student. The granddaughter becomes the teacher to Da-Duh when answering her questions about snow, electricity, and all modern conveniences of the new world. The benefits of informal education is as rewarding for the granddaughter to receive from Da-Duh as well as give. A tall royal palm was her last attempt to educate and exceed the new world of her granddaughter, but the Empire State Building was taller (357). Da-Duh was not impressed with all that the new world seems to offer. She becomes disheartened with the unknown, progress, loss of culture, lack of knowing, and it is out of her realm of comprehension.

The younger generation, granddaughter, can bridge the gap of old world and new world by having a formal education. According to Dorothy Denniston, "Marshall writes as if the Caribbean must be seen from the eyes of a child to help us fully

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appreciate the ramifications of her experience" (91). The granddaughter is in stage four of the immigrant journey because she has assimilated to the new world. She

has only had a formal education in her life till the time when Da-Duh becomes her teacher. The lessons were taught but not fully appreciated by a nine year old. The returning to her homeland is the start of stage five, but she does not complete this stage until years later when she can reflect on what her grandmother had actually given her in the way of tradition and ethnic identity.

The first generation immigrant to American is not always a child but an adult and the struggle to assimilate is difficult at best. The adult immigrant faces the loss of status and identity to self, community, and most important the family. "The English Lesson" written by Nicholasa Mohr brings the reader inside a formal classroom filled with adult immigrants wanting to learn English and assimilate (IA 21-33). The narrator of the story is never revealed to the reader. The students in the class are a mixture of immigrants from different countries and cultures with a single goal in common, to learn English. The teacher Mrs. Hamma is a third generation immigrant that feels it is her duty to "serve" and help people work towards improving their lives (22). The Basic English classroom is formal education for immigrants that may be educated or uneducated from their former country.

The goal of the adult immigrant student is to learn to speak and write English and attain a better job. Except for Stephen Paczkowski, none of the

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students mention their previous formal education level. He and his wife had been professors in Poland before immigrating to America. In America his status has changed, and he is working as a porter in a hospital with hopes of one day returning to the position of professor after learning English (27). Paczkowski is an immigrant that has faced the loss of status and identity to self, community, and most important the family.

English students Lali and William are friends that share ethnic identity, employment, and the desire to assimilate. Lali is married and her husband, Rudi, does not see a need for her to learn English. "She don’t have to talk to nobody. Besides, everybody that comes in speaks Spanish – practically everybody, anyway" (22). Lali cannot lessen her dependence on Rudi if she cannot learn to speak English. Rudi is assimilated and slow to give Lali his support for her to reach independent identity. William is employed at Rudi’s Luncheonette and "studies Basic English por que… to learn to speak and read English very good. To get a better job" (23-24). He may have left his country for a better life in the United States but he will have to work at a remedial job until he can learn Basic English. Since the education level of Lali and William is not given it can be assumed it is not of a high level but they plan on continuing classes to learn Basic English.

The goal of all of the immigrant students of Mrs. Hamma is to learn English to be able to achieve the American dream. Lali similar to Paczkowski lost her status

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and identity when she came to America. An adult first generation immigrant to American struggles to assimilate. The loss of status and identity to adult immigrants upon arriving in America is not something a child, second-generation, or third-generation immigrant faces. The responsibility of helping family weighs heavily on an adult immigrant. This is a timeless fictional story with a non-fiction ending. There is no definite ending to the story and it could be any immigrant’s story.

The involuntary immigrant struggle is similar to the voluntary immigrant in assimilation. "The Lesson" by Toni Bambara focuses on the informal education of involuntary African American immigrant children (IA 139-145). The fictional story shares the immigrant’s story of "Poets in the Kitchen," "To Da-Duh, In Memoriam," and "The English Lesson." Miss. Moore is a college educated formal teacher as is Mrs. Hamma but she is teaching children not adults. Miss. Moore carries a sense of duty as the informal teacher to neighborhood children similar to the way Da-Duh does to her granddaughter. The narrator in this story, "Poets in the Kitchen," and "To Da-Duh, In Memoriam" is a nameless girl revealing the details of the informal education that she received from a family member or friend.

Miss. Moore takes her students in a cab to Fifth Avenue and F.A.O. Schwartz toy store (141). Miss. Moore asks her students to compare the money spent on a toy to feeding a family. "Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is

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in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think?" (145). The lesson she is teaching her students is to judge if life is fair and equal. This can be compared to Da-Duh asking her granddaughter if any of the islands beautiful wonders, such as sugar cane, exist in her world or if she even is aware of where it comes from.

The kitchen poets did not ask questions nevertheless their conversation was filled with "content" and "their style" was a guide for life (VA 86). The teaching of customs, traditions, and life’s lessons are passed from generation to generation by informal education. The nameless narrator of "The Lesson" takes her time going home because she needs "to think this day through" (IA 145). Miss. Moore and Da-Duh are not fully appreciated at the time the lesson is taught. Until the lesson can be reflected on and what had actually been given in the way of tradition and ethnic identity recognized, both girls will not be able to complete stage five.

The formal and informal education of the immigrant child assimilates as she grows into an adult. The chapter on Rudi and Yolanda, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, shows how old world culture penetrates new world ideas. Yolanda is in college receiving the highest form of formal education but she has a problem keeping a boyfriend. Yolanda knows she is "pretty well Americanized since arriving in this country a decade before" (GG 87). Rudy tells his parents he was seeing "a

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Spanish girl" making Yolanda feel "like a geography lesson" (98). The geography reference by Yolanda points to the assimilation of two kinds of education.

Rudy’s parents compared his relationship with Yolanda to a cultural lesson, "talking too slowly to me as if I wouldn’t understand native speakers; they complimented me on my ‘accentless’ English" (100). A conflict over premarital sex and cultural beliefs causes tension between Rudy and Yolanda and ultimately ends the relationship. The differing views on their relationship are based on cultural beliefs:

Is Yolanda Americanized? Yolanda was old world and Rudy was new world. She did not have the traditional dominate influence Rudy had received. The informal education she was given as a child from her family influenced her formal education and adult life. Her cultural education was a "peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles" (99). The cultural discrimination Yolanda felt from Rudy and his parents is not isolated to one ethnic or immigrant group.

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Formal and informal education is an integral part of the immigrant experience in "The Lesson," "Poets in the Kitchen," "To Da-Duh, In Memoriam," "The English Lesson," and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. The fiction and nonfiction immigrant narrative tells the story of the immigrant’s journey and how literature and traditional oral story telling and cultural rituals from family or elders were influential. The kitchen poets, Da-Duh, Mrs. Hamma, Miss. Moore, and Yolanda’s "peculiar mixture" were important teachers for the immigrant. The nameless narrators and Yolanda’s struggles for assimilation and rediscovery were similar. As adults, they reflected on what was said and learned from the teacher as a child. Their stories share details of the teaching and learning process, of how the child and adult immigrant connect to the New World and reconnect to the Old World.

In closing, I personally participated in a cultural immersion workshop of "The People’s Republic of China" at UHCL. It started with a Chinese breakfast with presentations given by UHCL Chinese students covering cultural facts, customs, food, lifestyle, language, and arts, etc… After an hour and half the workshop departed by bus to the Texas Teo Chew Temple in Houston, the Temple is located off of Beltway 8 and Bellaire in Houston. Lunch was provided at, Ocean Palace, a local Chinese restaurant. The workshop was privileged to have members from the Houston Chinese Consulate attend and speak at the breakfast and luncheon.

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Translators were seated at each table for breakfast and lunch to provide information and answer questions.

The entire community in this area of Bellaire is Asian. From the street signs to the businesses, all are written in English and Chinese. The Hong Kong Mall is a few blocks down Bellaire from the Temple. The Temple is across the street from an apartment complex and a block from a public elementary school. The Texas Teo Chew Temple provides a Saturday school for cultural immersion for Chinese and Vietnamese children. The children attend public school during the week for formal education and on Saturday they attend the temple school for informal education.

The temple school teaches and reinforces cultural traditions. The children only speak in their ethnic dialect and participate in cultural education. The children speak, read, write, paint, and play music in Chinese. Approximately 100 children attend the school. A new larger school is to be built within a year due to the growing attendance. The formal school setup at the temple provides informal education and reinforcement of traditional values and culture of the old world while living in the new world. The children that attend the Temple school are in stage five of the immigrant journey. The Chinese immersion provided genuine experience and a personal insight and to a culture previously unknown to me.

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Bibliography

Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. New York: Plume, 1992.

Brown, Wesley, and Amy Ling, Eds. Imagining America: Stories From the Promised

Land. New York: Persea Books, 1991.

Brown, Wesley, and Amy Ling, Eds. Visions of America: Personal Narratives From

The Promised Land. New York: Persea Books, 1993.

Denniston, Dorothy Hamer. The Fiction of Paule Marshall: Reconstructions of

Newson, Adele S., and Linda strong-Leek, Eds. Winds of Change: The Transforming

Voices of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars. New York: Peter Lang,

1998. (19)

"Paule Marshall." Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/eb/print?eu=2888

Ying, Huan. "UHCL Cultural Immersion of The People’s Republic of China."

Workshop Cultural immersion of The Peoples Republic of China.

30 Mar. 2001.