SECTION BY SECTION:
HISTORY/govt.: democratic process
HISTORY II: Immigration & Culture
HISTORY/IMMIGRATION & CULTURE
1) Relevance/Purpose
§
“Split Decision” provides
excellent examples of how immigrants contribute to our national identity and
culture, and can be used to motivate a general discussion of U.S. immigration
history & policy
2) Discussion Questions
§ What aspects of Mexican culture are illustrated in the film, relative to Jesus’ family, and the Mexican environment he returns to?
§ How has immigration affected American culture? More specifically, from Mexico, from other Latin American countries, from Asia, from Europe?
§ How much of his family’s original Mexican culture and history did Jesus retain as he was growing up in Chicago? Is it important to understand the history and culture of the countries our families originally came from?
§
Why did Jesus’ family come to the
U.S.? What are the primary reasons
in general that families from other countries come to the U.S.?
3) Group Projects
§
Divide the students into groups, and
assign an ethnic/cultural group to each (Mexican-American, Native American,
African-American, European, etc.) Have
each group discuss and prepare a list of the positive aspects each of these
groups bring to American culture. (With
additional training materials, this could also serve as a springboard for
discussions on stereotyping).
4) Individual Projects
§ Prepare a report on how U.S. immigration policy has changed over time. What political processes affected these policies?
§ Prepare a report on current U.S. immigration issues (areas in which groups or politicians are pushing for change). Describe both sides of the issues. Or have each student identify a single issue and present it to the class.
§ Select a particular U.S. immigration issue and prepare a report describing the points of view in detail on both sides of the issue (example: whether to offer amnesty to tax-paying families currently residing illegally in the U.S.)
