Headline, October 25 2022/ HOPE : ''' '' PURPOSE OF SCHOOL '' '''

HOPE : ''' '' PURPOSE 

OF SCHOOL '' '''

U.S. : MANY MIGRANT PARENTS BELIEVE THAT U.S. schools promise their children the opportunity for a better life.

WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF SCHOOL? HOPE. Over 18 million children in the United States - one in four children - were born in another country, or have at least one parent who was.

For the last 12 years I have focused on understanding the trajectories of Latin American immigrant families in the United States. Immigrant parents describe education and schooling as among the most important benefits of migrating to the United States.

Leaving home and risking the treacherous, expensive journey north is often partly motivated by the promise that U.S. schools hold for children. To migrate is to care.

The promise of education, however, became precarious in March 2020, when school closures and remote learning measures were implemented to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

These measures disadvantaged immigrant children. Their parents were unfamiliar with the school system and often faced language barriers - which posed challenges to navigate distance learning.

In addition, the pandemic compromised many in-person school support structures that immigrant students depend on, such as English-language instruction, speech therapies, reading support, social-work check-ins and other forms of counselling.

Between 2020 and 2021, many immigrant parents struggled to navigate their vulnerable immigration statuses and a health crisis while continuing to work outside their homes in essential services.

With school buildings open again, U.S. educators now must focus on welcoming immigrants students and families to their classrooms, providing in-person language support and, most important, learning from the families' experiences.

When an immigrant child arrives in an English-speaking classroom without many English-language skills, research shows that the most important factors are the teacher's mind-set, access to adults who speak the child's language and the overall environment of the school.

Some educators perceive immigrant families negatively because of cultural and language differences : They focus on what immigrant children don't know and don't have, as opposed to what they do know and what they bring to the classroom.

A deficit-oriented view can lower educators' expectations of immigrant children, which in turn can make it harder for those children to succeed academically.

Classrooms where teachers celebrate immigrant students' languages and culture in meaningful ways provide a safe space for children to grow.

Language connects school and home. Any communication materials - letters sent home, emails from teachers, phone calls from nurses, signage on school walls - in languages other than English allow immigrant families to get closer to schools and educators.

Bilingual or multilingual programs, teachers trained in language learning, counselors, nurses and school psychologists who speak languages that the children speak all increase trust between families and schools.

But perhaps the most effective way to provide an environment that allows for children to flourish, learn and develop is to understand the specific vulnerabilities of immigrant families in the United States. In other words, to care. Teachers in many schools have done just that.

From creating WhatsApp group chats with families to engaging in parent teacher conferences over FaceTime, teachers are meeting parents and children where they are.

Some immigrant parents work in low-paying, unstable jobs, leaving them with little time to physically go to schools.

There is also a general hesitance to trust the bureaucratic structure of schools because of immigrants vulnerable immigration statuses.Their is a feat that sharing their stories, physical being in school buildings and signing school forms could hurt their asylum cases or compromise their undocumented status.

Society benefits as a whole when educators support immigrant students. When implemented with care, multicultural and multilingual curriculums engage students in constructive dialogue, prioritizing the human experience and genuine learning.

Schools aren't only about the hopes of individuals but also the larger hope that we can create an inclusive and just society where people of all sorts of backgrounds can thrive.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Education, Standards, Schools and Immigrants, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Gabrielle Oliveira, an associate professor of education and Brazil studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

With respectful dedication to the Parents, and then Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya ll prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - the exclusive ownership of every student in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless