After the panel discussion with the parents of refugee backround and their children about their struggles to enter into and be successful in the U.S. educational system--specifically, in Spokane--I asked Bilal what he thought about it. "It's a universal story," he answered. Yes, yes, it is.
The parents (from Togo, Burundi, and Rwanda) talked to us of many challenges. They spoke of the bullying that their children received when they first entered school and could not speak English. They spoke about their frustration at the lack of power that they believed U.S. teachers had in sticking to curriculum and standards and following up on discipline. They spoke about the loss they felt in a system that allowed children to pass to a higher grade-level whether they had mastered material or not--likened to 'meaningless success'. And, the children talked of feeling both American and of their home-countries' culture and spoke about their differing interpretations of the value of their native language. But the universal story lay in the struggle of the parents to conserve the traditional culture and language in the home and the struggle of the children to escape it, to fit in, to be American, to be accepted, to find themselves between these two worlds.
Bilal is right. It is universal. And probably accompanied by feelings of great loss on both sides.
"When we do this again..." said Everiste at the end of the hour, not quite ready to give up the discussion, "we'll need more time." "And a bigger room!" chimed in someone else. Yes, indeed. There SHOULD be a next time.
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