Of Borders and Dreams: A Mexican-American Experience of Urban Education

By Chris Liska Carger

Book Overview

Of Borders and Dreams: A Mexican-American Experience of Urban Education is the story of Alejandro Juarez, Jr., a Mexican-American youth, his family, and their experiences in a bureaucratic and frustrating public school system. Located in Chicago's west-side neighborhood, replete with crime, violence, and gangs, we first come to know Alejandro as a shy, good-natured fifth grader, the oldest child in a close-knit Mexican family. We follow Chris Carger, the author and Alejandro's ESL teacher, as she sets forth with his mother on a journey to provide him with the education he needs and deserves.

Of Borders and Dreams is an intelligent, probing portrayal of the problems that face bilingual and bicultural children. Through Alejandro's story, we are moved and enraged by the failure of the American school system to offer better opportunities for all children regardless of race, sex, or class. This book is of enormous importance to teachers and educators on all levels, and anyone interested in the future of education in America.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807735221
• ISBN13: 9780807735220
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Of Borders and Dreams

In Of Borders and Dreams a book, is about a Mexican-American Experience with Urban Education, Chris Liska Carger, an author, provides an intellectually and emotionally moving account of a young boy and his family as they struggle to succeed in an environment that doesn't value their language or their culture. This family is set in a Mexican community on the west side of Chicago. Carger describes the life of Alejandro and his family as they seek to meet Alejandro's educational needs in both Catholic and public schools. I am an international student, so I understand their difficult situation more than other people. I came to America to study telecommunications at the University of Utah. However, it is hard to keep up with my classes. Korean and English are totally different in ways such as grammar, sentence structure, and pronunciation. I only understand my classes half of the time. Even though I have been studying English since junior high school in Korea, and have lived in the United States for one year. Whenever I feel English is hard, I want to drop out and go back to Korea. However, if I give up my study, I can't accomplish my goals. Even though I feel difficult to keep up with my classes, I will keep pursing for my dreams. Carger describes how the social context of schooling and relationships with teachers helped to construct Alejandros failures and successes in learning. She reveals some of the complexities that other researchers regard as contributing to school reading failure. Unfortunately, failures were the norm in Alejandro's schooling. In Alejandro's case, the possessors of knowledge presented barriers to his education. His [..] teacher was completely inattentive to his needs as a second-language learner, giving him vocabulary and spelling assignments that were difficult even for the native English speakers. At the University of Utah, International students have to take ESL writing classes. When Im in my ELS class, some ELS professors speak clearly, logically and easily. I can understand everything they say. However, the other ESL professors speak with slang and often omit the subject and verb. I can't understand what those professors say. ELS professors need to speak to the students at their level so they can understand. I think it is important for immigrants to be educated. Without immigrants, the U.S. economy would have dropped long ago, and the expansion would have been over years ago. The U.S government needs to educate immigrants in orders that they might to become decent American citizens. Then, the United States will become betters country.