Ethiopia. Iraq. Iran. Eritrea. Cameroon. Democratic Republic of Congo. Nepal. Sudan.
In my first year of teaching, I had students from all of these countries in my 7th grade world studies class. What a dream for a Social Studies teacher: our very own United Nations! Unfortunately, not all of my native Baltimorean students (and fellow teachers) shared my joy for diversity. It wasn’t long before these students – many of whom were new to the United States and spoke little or no English – were taunted for the way they spoke, dressed, walked, laughed. Their skin was too dark or too light. They were too religious or heathens. The math teacher put “those Africans” in the back of the room. What was she supposed to do with them? Some of them had never held a pencil. Some spoke three languages fluently.
Most of these students and their families came to the United States through the help of the International Rescue Committee, while others had worked for years to secure work visas in hopes of providing an American education for their children. The father of one of my students had been a highly respected coffee expert in Ethiopia, where coffee accounts for 60 percent of export earnings and is a significant percentage of the GDP. He looked at me with tears in his eyes as he told me that he could not even get a job at Starbucks – he was overqualified. His son was being bullied. Had he made a mistake?
Over the past few years, I have kept in touch with many of these students. Not only have they adapted and survived in their new environment, they are thriving. Several of the boys are now stars of the varsity soccer team at their school – a sport for which they were previously mocked for playing. Their coach tells me they are the hot-shots of the school. One particularly brilliant student from the Congo is an emerging young film artist. Through her work with Wide Angle Youth Media, Evodie Ngoy, now a sophomore at Digital Harbor High School, channeled her immigration experience into a poignant short film, An Education in Apathy, chronicling her experience in Congo, her high expectations for American schools, and the sobering realities of her American public school experience.
Evodie and her international classmates were some of the hardest working, most resilient, and brilliant students I ever taught. With the added obstacles of learning a difficult new language and living in a harsh environment, they excelled academically. When I disaggregated test data for my cohort of English Language Learners, they were scoring an average of 20 points higher than their native peers. If they continue on this path of academic excellence, they deserve every opportunity for higher education our country can offer. In fact, their persistence, dedication, and resilience are as American as apple pie, and we would do well to encourage them to stay, learn, and excel as our next generation of technologists, artists, innovators, and thinkers.
The Dream Act could make college a reality for Evodie and her international peers. Voting YES on Question 4 to pass the Maryland Dream Act will insure that ALL children who graduate from a Maryland high school and pay taxes are able pay in-state tuition to Maryland state colleges and universities.
The Baltimore based nonprofit The Intersection is harnessing youth energy and empowering youth voices to lobby for passing the Maryland Dream Act on November 6th. The Intersection trains young people to organize to educate their community about issues affecting student access to education in Baltimore. If you want to join students, teachers, and community members in the fight to ensure equal access to education for Evodie and every student in Maryland, here’s how you can help:
Canvass: Saturday October 27th, 11:00AM -3:00 PM
The Intersection @ Millers Court
2601 N Howard Street Suite 140
Baltimore, MD 21218
Organizer: Andrew Wong
Cell:917-837-3919
andrew.k.wong88@gmail.com
Student-Led Rally for the Maryland Dream Act – Sunday, November 4th, 2012 1:30 pm
Come gather with teachers, students, parents, clergy, community leaders and concerned voters from across Maryland who want to make their voices heard.
Organizer: Margaret Kinney
margaretkinney@gmail.com
