ABSTRACT
The words immigrants and refugees refer to all foreign-born arrivals in the United States. The American educational system, long subject to external criticism and internal disagreements over multiethnic expectations and cross-cultural competency, has yet to deal with conflicting notions about assimilation, pluralism, nationalism, bilingualism, and multiculturalism in the socialization of newcomers. The educational process for the foreign-born seems to create a conflict of values and ideologies with a consequent resistance to, or compliance with, the dominant culture's social mores and ideologies. Later research suggests that the problem may have been inadequate procedures to engage the foreign-born in the educational process rather than their lack of motivation. Cross-cultural thinkers realize that education of the foreign-born is a desirable goal for acculturation and assimilation but responsibility for the success of such education is shared by the foreign born and the educational system for adults in the United States.
