The conceptual model for this book is based on Dr Callison’s 45 years of research and practical experience as
Western Regional Director of Upward Bound;
Director of Classroom Aide Training for Head Start;
Researcher in charge of the original Bi-Lingual Education
Program at Pajaro Valley School District in Watsonville, California;
Who would of ever thought that there would be so many successful immigrants. If you
look at it from a surface level, it just doesn’t make sense, right?
Many immigrants are coming from a third world country, they have little to no money,
and they barely speak English. So how the heck do they become successful?
Well, if you dig a bit deeper, it makes a lot of sense…
Love is over rated
Immigrants don’t come to this country to do what they love; they come here to make
money. Happiness is the last thing on their mind because all they care about is making
money.
With that money they can provide a better future for the family and most importantly
provide their kids with the things that they never had.
Now the big difference between immigrants and you is that in life you were taught to do
what you love. For example if you want to be an astronaut throughout your life your
parents and teachers encouraged you to follow your dreams. While with immigrants,
they are taught to do whatever makes money.
The 80-hour workweek
Do you love the 4-hour workweek? Well immigrants don’t! If they don’t believe in the
40-hour workweek, there is no way they’ll believe in the 4-hour workweek.
Instead of trying to figure out how they can work less hours each week, they try to figure
out how they can work more hours. 60, 70, and even 80 hours are the numbers
immigrants try to work each week.
For example, I know a few Indians who have 2 full time jobs, which means they are
literally working 80 hours every week. And although working 80 hours a week doesn’t
give you the best quality of life, it gives you the potential to make more money.
Investors love immigrants
The hard part is just finding a business
that they are interested in running.
Plus if you give them a small stake in the business they’ll work a lot harder than if I paid
them to work 80 hours per week.
Immigrants stick together
One thing that I never forgot is that when my parents immigrated over here other
immigrants helped them out. From free temporary living to helping you find a job,
immigrants help each other succeed.
Even after being in the U.S. for over 20 years, parents still have some stuff given to
them by other immigrants, such as furniture.
There’s nothing wrong with being frugal
It’s easier to save money than it is to earn it. This is why immigrants are frugal because
they understand that it is really hard to earn money… especially if you are working
80-hour weeks.
They are never afraid to ask for discounts, because they know that if you never ask you’ll
never receive. From negotiating at clothing stores to only buying things that are on sale, immigrants always find ways save money.
Education is everything
When times get tough the one thing that increases your odds of success is having a good education. Whether you a teenage immigrant or a middle aged immigrant, it is never toolate to go back to school.
than someone who just has a high school diploma. And if you have a master’s degree,
you’ll make $1,200,000 more in your lifetime than a high school graduate.
There is no excuse for not going to college, as there are online and nighttime classes.
You never take “no” for an answer Just because someone tells you no, it doesn’t mean that you can’t change that no to a yes.
When families first immigrate over here often the mom can not find a job like a preschool teacher. So when they tell her no, she tells them that she would work for free. Months
later they decided to hire her and more importantly pay her.
If someone tells you no, it just means not right now. That not right now can turn into a
yes later on.
The grass is truly greener
Have you heard the saying that the grass is greener on the other side? For immigrants, it usually is greener.
Although they may not be living in a fancy home or a rich neighborhood when they first immigrate over, those living conditions are still better than the ones they came from.
This is why they rarely complain about life because there really is nothing to be sad
about. In their eyes, life is truly good. They have a roof over their head and their kids are getting a great education.
Conclusion
The next time you see an immigrant walking by, don’t judge them because of their job,
the way they talk, or the clothes they wear. Be careful as some of the richest immigrants I know still drive their beat-up car that is 15 years old and they buy their clothes from Wal-Mart… only when they are on sale.
Immigrants are successful because of their beliefs and the way they were brought up. So
take a page out of their book and learn a few things from them because it isn’t too late
for you to learn from them and more importantly become successful.
What other traits do you think make immigrants successful?
We are looking for a special group of first generation immigrants in this book. Those who attended Upward Bound programs such as this one.
Occidental College Upward Bound
Upward Bound is a federal program that assists students who are the first person in their family to pursue a college education and/or from a low income family. Since 1965,
900,000 students have completed Upward Bound and graduated from college.
Dr. Callison designed the first Upward Bound which served African American students
from Los Angeles who attended Occidental College where he was Director of Admission.
He then became the Western Regional Director of Upward Bound.
Dr. Arthur Coons, President of Occidental College and Dr Callison began to think of
recruiting more minority students for Oxy, as it is called, in 1962. John F. Kennedy was President and Lyndon Johnson was Vice President. With President Kennedy’s
assassination in 1963, LBJ as he was called, became President and he initiated the War
On Poverty. We decided that we would like the same ratio of Black students at Oxy as
Los Angeles had, 10%. Dr. Coons contacted Dick Sullivan, President of Reed College, for
help in obtaining funding. President Sullivan suggested the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
and we obtained funds to support twelve Black males.
These students came from Jordan High School in South Los Angeles and were all A
students. They all failed out in the first semester and we were decimated. Callison talked
to the Principal about the problem and he said the smartest students typically dropped
out in the 8th or 9th grade. He gave us the name of a retired English teacher who kept in contact with many of these students, and she helped us set up Saturday morning
meetings at a savings and loan public room in South Los Angeles. With funds left from
our grant from Rockefeller we added a six week summer program in residence at Oxy.
The new group of twelve survived their first year with great difficulty and each year after that Oxy started the program a year earlier, finally discovering that bright, low income
students needed to begin at grade 9, which has been Upward Bound practice ever since.
In 1964 Callison was asked to move to Washington D.C. to become Western Regional
Director of Upward Bound. The experience at Oxy became the working model that was
used in setting up many of the new Upward Bound programs, 18 of them in 1965 across
the country.
Motivation is the key. Upward Bound staff have found that any approach that more
nearly personalizes instruction is helpful. Personalization can be based upon small
group or even tutoring approaches. But, it can also draw upon guided independent
study on topics of interest or of curiosity to the learner. Experience suggests that
personal mentoring has a very positive effect. If we can get members of the school staff
or the larger community to take on mentoring tasks for individuals or small groups
(advice, friendship, guidance, connections to employment and other opportunities,
assistance with homework and assignments), we can get some very good results. "We
Care, Therefore They Learn!"
Upward Bound supports high school students in their preparation for college entrance
by providing tutorial support, classroom instruction, academic/ personal counseling, mentoring as well as college preparation assistance with applications, scholarship searches, and financial aid.
Upward Bound (UB) was the first TRIO program and remains the largest of the programs
in terms of annual funding allocations. TRIO began with the Economic Opportunity Act
of 1964, which authorized 18 pilot Upward Bound programs in 1965. In the same year,
the Higher Education Act of 1965 authorized the Talent Search (TS) Program designed to identify and assist youths with the potential for success in higher education. In 1966, the UB Program was expanded from the 18 pilot programs to 220. It was not until 1968 that the
term TRIO was coined to encompass the three initial programs—UB, TS, and the newly authorized Student Support Services (SSS) Program that provides support services to undergraduates to assist them in completing programs of postsecondary education. At
the same time (in 1968), all three programs were placed under Title IV of the Higher
Education Act, as amended. In 1972, during the Vietnam War, VUB was initiated to assist veterans in transitioning from military service to postsecondary education. Also in 1972,
the Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) Program to serve adults was authorized.
Fourteen years later, in 1986, the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement
Program was authorized to prepare undergraduates from groups underrepresented in graduate education for graduate study and the attainment of Ph.D. degrees.
The first Upward Bound in the West was at Oxy and continues today. It is described at http://departments.oxy.edu/ub/. Dr. Richard Frost, Vice President Academic at Reed College
was the first National Director of Upward Bound. He was a fine innovative thinker and
wrote a plan for the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey for his PhD dissertation at
Princeton University.
