This is a long article but worth reading if you are interested in what happens to teenage refugees who arrive in the US with no English and are expected to cope in a big city high school. Imagine sitting in a math class for months and not even understanding what is being said, and no one follows up to help you figure out how to get lunch, follow a changing class schedule or open your locker. Where are their resettlement case workers? No wonder some kids quit and turn to crime.
And, the American fetish for political correctness doesn’t help either!
Below are just a few short paragraphs to consider from this Salt Lake Tribune piece (emphasis mine):
Granite is the only district in Utah to try — and then close — a newcomer academy for newly arrived refugees and immigrants over concerns the district would be accused of segregation. But it’s a strategy that’s still being urged by advocates here. In October, 100 service providers and educators held a meeting called by the Utah Office of Refugee Services to brainstorm ways to help refugee youths toward promising futures and careers. A newcomer academy was a common goal. Rising problems with drugs and gang violence, particularly among refugees in the 18-21 age group, has prompted the office to redouble its efforts with youth.
Brown, the refugee services director, says he has attended four funerals for young refugee men in the past two years due to violence or drugs.
“We’re determined to do something about it,” Brown says. “There’s no single answer, but I think if we can put a lot of different things together, then we do have a real chance.”
Part of it is helping students succeed academically, he says. Too often, youths become frustrated when they cannot compete with their peers in school. They find other ways to stand out.
But, of course, the overarching questions for me, are: Can taxpayers afford what needs to be done, and are we even doing the best thing for some “refugees” by yanking them out of their own cultures? And, I am sure there are some readers who are asking why we are doing any of this when we have American troubled kids aplenty.