Migrations and Schooling

Mass migration is the human face of globalization. Where immigrant workers are summoned, families and children will follow. The great global migration wave of the past generation has generated a powerful demographic echo. Nearly all the high-income countries of the world are experiencing substantial growth in their immigrant-origin student populations. Concurrently, globalization is placing new demands on education systems the world over. As a consequence, schooling systems are facing something they never faced before: educating large and growing numbers of immigrant-origin youth to greater levels of competence and skill at a time of economic upheaval and cultural malaise. This article reviews the basic scholarship in anthropology and allied fields with a focus on language, transnationalism, poverty, segregation, undocumented status, and racialization as they structure the academic pathways of immigrant-origin youth in a variety of destinations.