Pax-salon Mailing List: Conversation (The Immigrant Advantage)

[Patty Guerrero (pattypax]

HI,  After a 2 week hiatus for the holidays, we will meet next Tuesday.  Same 
time, same place for Open Conversation.

If you want, we can discuss The Immigrant Advantage by Claudia Kolker.  She was 
on News Hour last night.  Here are Seven Top Things North Americans Can Learn 
from Immigrants.   We can discuss these.

Thanks, 

Patty


Top Seven Things Americans Can Learn from Immigrants, according to Claudia 
Kolker


1. How to Save:

When penniless Vietnamese refugees poured into this country after the fall of 
Saigon, they often astounded other Americans by launching successful businesses 
almost at once. They did it with "friendship loans": savings pooled at monthly 
gatherings of a dozen or more friends, each solemnly committed to bringing a 
set sum at each meeting, no matter what. Each friend knows that one time in the 
cycle, she'll get to bring home the whole pool of thousands of dollars, no 
strings attached, for herself. The one obligation is you must keep paying 
monthly until everyone's gotten a turn. Default even once and lose your friends 
and reputation forever.


2. How to Mother a Mother:

Though it's hard to believe, babies of Mexican immigrants average lower infant 
mortality in the first day, week and month of life than those of non-Hispanic 
white women. Back in rural villages, Mexican mothers even seem to avoid 
postpartum depression, suffered by up to 15 percent of mothers in the United 
States. What are they doing right? One answer is the "cuarentena" -- 40 days of 
absolutely mandatory pampering for new mothers. In the first six weeks after a 
baby's birth, the entire family and community work together to make sure the 
mother does nothing but rest, relax, eat well and get to know her baby. She's 
not allowed to even touch a broom or a dishcloth. The result: a healthy, 
peaceful mother and, perhaps, a more resilient baby.


3. How to Eat:

The only thing harder than getting a hot meal on the table after work is 
ignoring all the statistics correlating family dinners with health, good 
behavior and school success. The pressure is even higher for many Vietnamese, 
raised to believe that family meals must also have several courses and be fresh 
-- nothing frozen or canned. So they invented "monthly rice," an incredibly 
low-cost subscription service for home-made dinners. Talented 
cooks/entrepreneurs from Houston to California cook ultra-fresh, mouth-watering 
meals from simple ingredients -- and are paid by monthly subscription, like a 
newspaper. A four-course meal for four? Roughly $10.


4. How to Learn:

While there's great variety in the lives of Asian immigrants, students of 
Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese parents really do average better grades in 
public school. It has nothing to do with luck. Asians come here from cultures 
where learning how school systems work -- and then mastering them -- is 
essential for advancing in life. So many bring an amazing toolbox of skills, 
including "hagwons" -- supplementary classes, often led by an older student, to 
make a child familiar with new skills before her teacher presents it in class. 
That extra shot of one-on-one teaching, motivated peers, plus confidence can 
give a public school education the oomph of private school.


5. How to Court:

It's a jungle out there. And while many U.S.-born children of Indians and South 
Asians don't want arranged marriages, by the time they're in the late 20s and 
30s, like many other Americans, they're tired of dating. And their parents are 
happy to help. Thanks to the widespread practice of "assisted marriage," 
parents and close friends put the word out, circulate "biodata" (bare-bones 
resumes, never too revealing) and most importantly, screen for cads and 
nutcases. The singles get to choose which candidates they meet and see for 
themselves if there's chemistry.


6. How to Be a Good Neighbor:

The Little Village barrio in Chicago is poor, largely Hispanic and mostly 
first- or second-generation. Astonishingly, it's also got one of the city's 
lowest asthma rates -- five percent, compared to the average 19-22.2 percent in 
white and black neighborhoods. Not only that, far more Little Village residents 
survived a fatal citywide heat wave than residents in the neighborhood just 
next door. The barrio even has less crime than expected for its income level. 
The secret? Research shows it may partly be the barrio's old-fashioned street 
culture. Hanging out on the stoop or walking to stores creates a mix of 
socializing and vigilance that seems to have health-enhancing effects for the 
whole neighborhood.


7. How to Shelter:

Jamaicans and other Caribbean immigrants come here with more economic 
advantages than other immigrants -- easier access to visas, higher educational 
levels, fluent English. So why do so many live with parents well into their 
40s? They do it because it makes their lives better. Intergenerational homes 
boost income so families can live in better neighborhoods with higher-quality 
schools. They allow young adults to save their money for advanced degrees or 
cash deposits on houses and surround growing children with more 
cognition-boosting adult attention. Oh, and they enjoy each other, too. As one 
Jamaican woman said, "Turning 18 doesn't mean you have to fall out of love with 
your parents."

Claudia Kolker is the author of "The Immigrant Advantage." As a freelance 
reporter in El Salvador from 1992-1995, she covered the Salvadoran postwar 
recovery as well as social issues throughout Central America, Cuba, Haiti and 
the Dominican Republic. In her adopted hometown of Houston, she has worked as 
bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, member of the Houston Chronicle 
editorial board and deputy director of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community 
Health Leaders. She lives in Houston with her husband and two daughters.