| PROBLEM: Italian-Americans belong to one of the cultural groups that have suffered discrimination throughout the decades since their or their families' immigration to the United States. As early the first half of the twentieth century, Italian-Americans had already suffered discrimination, alienation, and exclusion. Such factors became obstacles to the success of Italian- Americans in their educations and in their later lives. This study intends to examine how various factors and conditions -- both internal and external -- have led to Italian-Americans' success in the field of education and to their influential roles in American society in general.;METHOD: The method used in this study was the grounded theory of the qualitative research design. The sources of data are the information that will be derived from the interviews of a purposive sample of 30 Italian-Americans who have been successful in the field of education. The interviews shall be done by following through on the instruments which are 10 open-ended questions which will be electronically emailed, from which the conditions will be set forth as the determining conditions of the success of the chosen sample of Italian-Americans in the field of education. The method to data collection and analysis adopted was open, axial and theoretical coding.;RESULTS. The purpose of this study was to examine how various factors and conditions-both internal and external --have led to Italian-Americans' success in the field of education. Very encouraging school's administrative support and structures, personal motivation, and English language proficiency, in that order, were the top factors that led to or contributed most to the success of Italian-Americans in higher education. Additional factors were mentioned such as strong parents' supporting roles, strong willingness for cultural assimilation and ability to fight feeling of alienation. The emerged theory proposed that school authorities need to enhance their school curricula by including programs and activities that would enhance English language schools particularly for foreign students. The school's curricula should for instance include topics or lessons that emphasized on education characterized by universality and free from any form of discrimination. Hence, Italian-American communities should petition for the establishment of specific Committees in American schools that will continuously monitor and evaluate the design of universal and racially neutral contents in the schools' syllabus. |
