The work kids do Mexican and Central American immigrant children's contributions to households and schools in California

• Published in: Harvard educational review Vol. 71; no. 3; pp. 366 - 389
• Main Author: Orellana, Marjorie F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, MA Harvard University 01-09-2001; Harvard Education Press
• Subjects: Alltag; Bilingual Teachers; Central America; Child development; Child Labor; Children; Children & youth; Educational Research; Educational sciences; Empirische Untersuchung; Ethnic minority, racial problems, cultural differences; Ethnische Gruppe; Family Financial Resources; Freiwilliger Hilfsdienst; Hausarbeit; Hispanic Americans; Hispanoamerikaner; Housework; Immigrants; Kalifornien; Kind; Kinderarbeit; Mexican Americans; Mexicans; Mexikaner; Migrant; Noncitizens; Qualitative Forschung; Sex Role; Sociology; Sociology of culture; Sociology of education; Teaching Methods; Urban Schools; USA; USA; United States > US; California; Sociological Analysis; Mexican American; Immigrant; Family Life; Child of Foreign Worker; Community
• ISSN: 0017-8055; 1943-5045
• DOI: 10.17763/haer.71.3.52320g7n21922hw4

In this article, the author highlights the work immigrant children do as active agents in supporting and sustaining their families, households, and schools. Building on the work of sociologists who examine children's engagement in social processes, she maintains that we should not lose sight of children's present lives and daily contributions in our concern for their futures. Similarly, we should not see immigrant children only as a problem or a challenge for education and for society while overlooking their contributions to family and school. Integrated into her discussion are the voices of Mexican and Central American immigrant children living in California as they describe their everyday work as helpers at home and school. These examples illustrate how immigrant children's work can be understood in many ways - as volunteerism, as opportunities for learning, and as acts of cultural and linguistic brokering between their homes and the outside world. (DIPF/ orig.)