The pressure of beingfirst

Children of immigrant parents share the struggles and expectations that come with being a first-generation student

Sally Rodriguez •Features Editor

As the diversity within the United States is constantly on the rise, more and more parents immigrate to the U.S. from foreign countries seeking better opportunities for their children.

Currently about 40 percent of students entering college are first-generation children, meaning they are U.S.-born children of parents from a different country.

Growing up with parents who have limited knowledge of the U.S. customs means many first-gen children face the pressure of navigating society on their own, not only for themselves, but also for their parents.

“I feel like I had to grow up faster than most kids my age because I had to take on more responsibilities to compensate for my parents not knowing English very well,” said junior Christopher Gonzalez, whose parents immigrated from Mexico. “I had to worry about things that normal kids shouldn’t have to worry about.”

Some students found it difficult trying to adapt to

American schooling when coming from a foreign household with different traditions and expectations.

“You feel pressured to do better in school and make better grades when English isn’t necessarily your first language and you weren’t taught the same as people who have been in America all their lives,” said junior Allison De La Puente, whose parents immigrated from Mexico.

Other students feel as if they owe it to their parents to behave and perform well in order to pay back the sacrifices their parents made by starting over in America.

“I definitely have to deal with the guilt of the fact that they came to a different country in order for me to succeed,” said junior Tiffany Ngo, whose mother was born in Vietnam. “Even when they get mad at me, I always remember that they came here for me.”

As first-gen students do their best to help their parents with various responsibilities, many feel frustration when comparing themselves to others who have grown up with U.S.- born parents.

“It makes me mad when some people just get things for free from their parents and I have to work for everything I get,” said junior Francesca Carrillo, who has parents from Peru and Mexico. “They get it handed to them.”

The feeling of having different ideologies compared to children with American parents is prevalent in many areas of first-gen childrens’ lives.

One of the main differences can be seen in how children are brought up at home.

“Immigrant parents can be a lot more strict and they have higher standards,” De La Puente said. “They want us to do better.”

Other differences involve expectations of the roles within the household, like “machismo” customs in Mexican culture, which is the assertion of male dominance and superiority in families.

“In the Mexican community, a major problem is the way machismo works and women usually have to do more in the kitchen and clean around the house, whereas American people usually have the same standards or they have someone else that does the cleaning for them,” De La Puente said.

Students who grow up with immigrant parents see the prominent cultural differences compared to their peers as they grow up in an American society. What may seem normal to one family may be disapproved of by another.

“The main difference is that people from America have different ways of thinking,” Ngo said. “Americans tend to have more open ways of thinking whereas people who grew up in Asia tend to have more conservative views. The way they live is different from the way I live at home.”