Assimilation is a voluntary or involuntary process by which individuals or groups fully adopt the traits of another culture, leaving behind their original cultural and linguistic identities. The absorption of European immigrants into American society and their adoption of American cultural patterns and social structures has generally been described as a process of assimilation. For many years, school programs in the United States strove to assimilate minority children.
The process has also been called Americanization. The education of American Indian youth, for example, focused on allowing them to integrate into the majority culture, while discouraging retention of their tribal customs, beliefs, and languages. As late as the 20th century, many Native American children were physically separated from their families and transplanted to distant towns and villages, where they lived with white families to speed up this process.
The concept of assimilation continues to polarize teachers, school administrators, academics, researchers, politicians, and others interested in the place of schools in public life. On the one hand, there are those who firmly believe that in a democratic, pluralistic, and egalitarian society immersed in an interdependent world, the primary mission of public schools is to promote the intellectual, social, linguistic, and personal development of all students, whatever their background. . Your background
According to this camp, public education should promote social justice; care and advocacy for students, their parents, and their communities; curriculum reform; damage reduction; language equity; and respect for the cultures of those who differ from us. The research literature on assimilation suggests that culturally, linguistically, and socially responsive schooling produces students who feel less alienated and who tend to perform well academically, socially, and emotionally.
According to this view, students who are proud of their origins and able to maintain their original languages and cultures are more likely to succeed in school and in society, while maintaining important intergenerational communication patterns at home and communities. This set of beliefs is common among bilingual educators.
