Immigrants See Charter Schools as a Haven

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/education/10charter.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em

Immigrants See Charter Schools as a Haven

MINNEAPOLIS — Fartun Warsame, a Somali immigrant, thought she was being a good mother when she transferred her five boys to a top elementary school in an affluent Minneapolis suburb. Besides its academic advantages, the school was close to her job as an ultrasound technician, so if the teachers called, she could get there right away.

“Immediately they changed,” Ms. Warsame said of her sons. “They wanted to wear shorts. They’d say, ‘Buy me this.’ I said, ‘Where did you guys get this idea you can control me?’ ”

Her sons informed her that this was the way things were in America. But not in this Somali mother’s house. She soon moved them back to the city, to the International Elementary School, a charter school of about 560 pupils in downtown Minneapolis founded by leaders of the city’s large East African community. The extra commuting time was worth the return to the old order: five well-behaved sons, and one all-powerful mother.

Charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently run, were conceived as a way to improve academic performance. But for immigrant families, they have also become havens where their children are shielded from the American youth culture that pervades large district schools.



editing to add: Ali Somo, a 70-year-old father of three children at the International Schools, put it this way: “We bring our children here because we want them close to us so they don’t get lost.” a 70 year old with 3 kids in school? yikes!

[RB TexLa]

1. There should be one or more as the need is justified for each immigrant community in a given city.

[glowing]

2. Perhaps our Americanized students need to become a bit more culturally aware..

and perhaps we can begin teaching the world histories and worldly linguistics earlier on.. There are sooo many ways to improve our public education..