Guerrero Alexandra
CODES 121
Dr. Despain
22 September 2024
Analyzing the Rhetoric of “Why So Many Children of Immigrants Rise to the Top” by Peter Coy.
In the article “Why so many children of immigrants rise to the top,” Petter Coy presents powerful ideas that people make accusations about immigrants. He talks to the American people about the economic differences between generations. He looks to inform and correct the American people about immigrants’ misadjustment and work ethics. So why are they succeeding more than native-borns?
Peter Coy shows credibility in his writing by citing other rescuers and writers from books that have backed up data. Prof. Ran Abramitzky and Prof. Leah Boustan reinforced their statements by finding data about immigration from years past. That information provided a comparison between immigrant children and United States-born children. The data clearly show that children of immigrants moved up the economic ladder and were able to be more financially stable. Peter also shows moving illustrations of stairs with two different groups of people: green represents children of immigrant men, and orange represents men born in the U.S. between 1978 and 1983. By the time the children reach their mid-30s, they have overcome poverty. Peter gives a great example with percentages of the growth in economic classes. In the end, the children of immigrants were 15 % rich, but on the other hand, the U.S.-born were 9% rich.
In the article, Peter uses logical argument by dates from when the information was found to prove his point that even from very early in the 19s, immigrants have helped to grow the country and not overtake it like politicians make it look. He feels a solid sense to prove the accusations made by the American people are wrong and should be corrected.
Finally, Peter Coy clarified that immigrants work harder to improve and climb the economic ladder than American-born children. He shows that the American dream is still alive today as it was in the past, and immigrants want to live the dream.