The demographic profile in the United States continues to change dramatically. The Migration Policy Institute (2016) reports that the number of CLD students increased by more than 50% in the past decade and the increase will continue. Key issues that surround the CLD population are the role of language and the conflict between their culture of origin and the new and complex culture they experience in the United States, thereby serving as challenges to adaptation and understanding. Authors and researchers confirm that CLD populations experience stigmatization and stereotyping, exacerbating these language and cultural barriers. This study reveals that Latinx and Arab American families are met with ethnic profiling, census labeling, and traumatic experiences. It is important for educational leaders to face these challenges to push past the barriers and assist CLD in achieving academic success and acceptance.
TopPopulation Issues For The Cld In The Us
Diken (2006) drew attention to the rapid demographic transformations occurring in the U.S. population, including the wider variety of cultural backgrounds. For example, while the 2000 U.S. census divulged that African Americans and Hispanic Americans make up 25.4 percent of the total U.S. population, trends in population migrations and immigrations suggest that by the year 2050, Hispanic Americans alone will account for 25% of the entire U.S. population (Diken, 2006).
The Center for Immigration Studies reported that 67.3 million people in the United States spoke a foreign language at home in 2018 (Zeigler & Camarota, 2019)); while this number in 2013 was recorded as 61.8 million, there has been an increase in 2.2 million between 2010 and 2013 and 7.7 million between 2010 and 2018. The largest increase between the years 2010 to 2013 were for speakers of Spanish (up 1.4 million, 4% growth), Chinese (up 220,000, 8% growth), Arabic (up 188,000, 22% growth), and Urdu (up 50,000, 13% growth) (Camarota & Ziegler, 2014). The Arab American Institute (2014) reported that the population identified as having Arabic-speaking ancestry in the U.S. census grew by more than 72% between 2000 and 2010. The Arabic-speaking American population in 2010 was 3,665,789, with most of the Arab-speaking immigrants coming from Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon (Arab American Institute, 2014). If one accounts for non-Arabic Muslim populations (e.g., Turkish, Chaldean, Iranian, and Armenian populations) living in the U.S., the number is closer to 5 million (Wiltz, 2014).
Based on research, 1 out of 5 students in the United States come from CLD families (Eneriz-Wiemer, Sanders, Barr, & Mendoza, 2014). Looking further, research shows that 1 out of 10 of childbearing aged adults have low English proficiency (LEP), which is strongly associated to very poor health quality for both adults and children (Eneriz-Wiemer et al., 2014). One of the main conclusions of Eneriz-Wiemer and colleagues’ research is that health care professionals need more training to acknowledge limited English proficiency as an independent and major factor in the mental health treatment of immigrant children. There have been similar conclusions drawn from other researchers in this area of study such as Zhang, Hong, Takeuchi& Mossakowski, 2012) found similar results .
Year after year, the multicultural populations in U.S. schools increase as more Latino, Middle Eastern, North African, Southwest Asian, and other groups immigrate to and become more visible in U.S. society (Center for Public Education, 2012). The changing ethnic, racial, and cultural composition of the United States is clearly documented. Census data from the year 2000 indicate several trends towards a more culturally and linguistically diverse society (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002).
For instance, one indicator of the changing ethnically diverse face of America is that while the U.S. birthrate is decreasing, the proportion of children from non-white and non-English speaking backgrounds is increasing (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). Obviously, these trends are reflected in school populations. Census data from 2000 indicate that the school-aged population is comprised of approximately 1% Indian/Alaskan Native students, 4% Asian/Pacific Islander students, 16% black (non-Hispanic) students, 15% Hispanic students, and 63% white, non-Hispanic students.