I have kids who, according to their ESL portfolio, have failed the ESL level they are in three times and don't know they've failed it till I tell them. They just think every ESL level uses the same book until I say, "No, this is your third time in 2B, that's why you keep seeing the same book."
They and their parents (mostly Mexican) don't seem to know what the report card means or how to read it. They just know that every year they go to school, they get "free" lunch, they hang out with their friends, and are regularly in big rooms with an adult who tries to get them to do things they don't want to do and have no interest in trying. It's baffling to me, the whole culture here.
What's really weird is I can't even get them to put things together in their heads. Most of them can't seem to see things like cause and effect, can't see anything unless it's spelled out completely. If anything requires the slightest effort, they just tune out immediately. All most of them can do is chatter and copy. They can't even paraphrase.
One week we covered a short account of the Titanic. I told them there would be a quiz. I gave each of them one of the five questions on the quiz. I told them the pages the answers were on. I told them to look up the answers and write them down for notes to study from. Then I put them in groups where each of them had one of the five questions so that together, they had all five questions and all five answers. I told them to share their questions and answers. I told them to study these because tomorrow was the test.
The next day I gave them the test. Exact same questions. Average score: 17%. Seriously.
You might say I made it too easy, but this was after several attempts at teaching at the level I thought they should be able to function at. This was a last resort attempt to see, can they think at all?
The most disheartening thing was, when I told them the next day that their average was so abysmal.... they laughed. They thought it was hilarious... and proof that they were too cool for school, not nerds. Cool kids fail, that's the culture here. And a lot of these kids are very sweet and charming one on one. But they are as indifferent to academic achievement as a baby is to a lecture on disaster preparedness.
Pretty bleak. I can't answer your concerns, but I am reminded what Michael Barone said on Fox News several years ago as one of his books on immigration was coming out. He said that Hispanic employment was the highest in the country because they value work so much. Given their reputation for very hard work in our area, I don't have any problem believing that. But the downside is that they favor work so much more highly than education. They don't tend to see the need to finish high school--or I guess do well in school--if they can get a job and work. So maybe what you're seeing is a larger cultural mindset.