1.) One of the common explanations I hear about why people migrate to the United States is for a better life, as so many migrants in the past have said multiple times and to this day, still rings true. As the son of an Asian migrant myself, I was told this very reason as to why I barely saw my mom growing up. She provided not only for my dad and I but our extended family as well. This not only extends to just Asian migrants but migrants in general, especially going to a school like BMCC where I’ve met so many classmates who are migrants themselves, have come in order to further their education, and believe America is the key to their hopes and dreams coming true.
2.) Yang proposes the “Push and Pull theory” which ties in with these very factors since one of the examples of a push factor is economic hardships in which many countries today experience and as a result, countries that they view to be great, experience an influx of the number of migrants coming into the country. Such is the case in the 1840s where many Irish left their country due to the Potato Famine in search of a better life to provide for their family in the United States and Great Britain. As for the pull factor, in the example, I brought up, it was the hope for better crops due to the famine they were experiencing back home in Ireland.
3.)Finally, there is no additional “cluster of factors” that I would add to Yang’s theory since the majority of them were sound and reinforced his points very well.
Honestly your mom sounds amazing to be able to provide for her family. Also I did not know about the Irish migration during the potato famine. Did you learn about that prior to this class or did you research it for this class?
Wow, that sounds difficult! I’m glad you’re able to understand now and your mom definitely deserves some good karma for her work ethic! My family also cited educational opportunity for the family as a huge reason for our immigration to America. My aunt, as one of the eldest children in a family of 8, repeated that she had to work after immigrating to America straight out of HS in order to help provide for the family. Her younger siblings were fortunate enough to attain their US college education, but she instead had to focus on making money to support her younger siblings and parents (who worked as a waiter and a seamstress, not nearly enough to feed a large family).
i’m sorry to hear about your hardships but i’m glad you met people that you can relate too, it can be tough out there
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Jericho!