Some refugee children face many obstacles in settlement especially within
the school system. When they arrive settlement workers ensure they get
language and basic settlement
information, which is good. An important part of settlement is cultural
adaptation. One does not adjust to culture as easy as many settlement workers
appear to think. This is a process that takes a long time.
However, among the most important
settlement issue for youths is where they are placed in schools. In Canada children are placed in grades on the basis
of age, regardless of how much or little they know. Some of these youths may have never attended school or may have
had very little schooling in the refugee camps. When they are put in these age-based classes with very little
background education, they feel foolish because they do not know anything. They
may get a special education teacher to help them with certain subjects but for
the most part they sit in the same class with their age peers. These students become discouraged and
ashamed to be seen as dumb so they drop out of school or cover their inadequacy
by becoming disruptive in school, they act and talk tough and become prime
targets for drug deals waiting in the wings to provide a solution to their disillusionment.
In many cases refugee parents
themselves do not know very much so they cannot help their children or may not
recognize the symptoms of low-self esteem.
Many of the teachers are also not sensitive and they may start sending
notes home to parents or want the parents to appear in school to deal with
problem children.
I think what needs to happen is
for refugee children to be placed in special classes and learn with peers who are at their same level. They should not be made to attend the same
school with other children who are way ahead of them academically. I think the children will feel a lot more
comfortable learning in an environment where every student is on the same
page. When they are caught up and
comfortable with the system then they should be integrated into the regular school
system.
The current system is clearly
ineffective. There is a high rate of drop-out rate among refugee youths and
many of them are in trouble with the law
and sitting in jail because of bad choices or bad influences and just
being lost children.
Settlement service providers instead of sending speakers into schools to normalize the refugee youths situation should do more than that. They should demand a better deal for these children or they will be a lost generation – lost to jails, HIV Aids and drugs. The students should not be made to fit into the system but the system should adapt to students’ needs.
