Faith schools in Britain are allowed greater control in the selection process that determines which children are given places, but in some faith schools this process disadvantages those children that do not come from white, middle class backgrounds. Faith schools are also allowed to give a higher priority to those children raised in the same faith as the school but some faith schools operate a points system whereby, according to Mr. Craig, it is impossible for some children to be selected.

Just some of the criteria used by some faith schools depend on whether or not the child’s parents volunteer at a church which discriminates against those parents who work long hours and have no time to volunteer and also whether or not the child was baptised within three months of birth, which discriminates against Eastern European families, who traditionally do not baptise their children until they are one year old.

The Office of the School Adjudicator is keen to point out that they have not found any instances of faith schools deliberately discriminating against children from poorer or immigrant families but merely that the selection systems in place are inadequate. Local authorities are required to make sure that all schools follow the legislation regarding intake. But only when the intake legislation is made clearer will the system be truly fair for all children.

The results for the record exams revealed that more teen boys were failing. While a smaller number of teenage boys were given A*, an average of one out of four teenage girls have gotten an A* in the recent record exams. This was the widest gap in scoring since the exam was first introduced 17 years ago.

Education experts are alarmed by the dropping scores of the boys because this may leave them without the much needed skills which would enable them to reach their goals in life. In English, the course with the biggest grade difference between the genders, 73% of girls scored A8 to C, but only 59% of boys passed the exam. The exam results only show that about 23% of takers scored an A* and that girls are now taking up subjects that are ‘traditionally male’ and were moving in much quicker pace compared to boys, academically speaking. According to Professor Alan Smithers, “It is a truly enormous gap in English and it is really very alarming. It is a poor reflection on us as educators. We are failing boys in English. We are not giving them the necessary understanding to get as much out of life as they could.” The cut coursework was blamed for assisting the girls ace their GCSEs in the past. It was known that the gender gap was only 3% when the A* was initially introduced. AQA Exam Board CE Andrew Hall finally said, “It’s fascinating. In A-levels we were very clear that boys were narrowing the gap. But at GCSE it is going absolutely the other way.”

Poster by Favianna Rodriguez

California’s recent passage of the California DREAM Act makes it the eleventh state in America to pass similar immigrant education assistance programs. This law extends in-state tuition fees for public higher education institutions to cover undocumented immigrant students. It also gives private educational institutions legal cover if they decide to offer non-state funded scholarships to students without immigration authorization. There is another portion of the California Dream Act that has yet to reach Governor Jerry Brown. This proposed legislation seeks to make parts of state-funded scholarships available for undocumented students. The scholarships will be offered only after students who are citizens and permanent residents had their needs answered. Also, the scholarships will also operate within the constraints of whether there are remaining scholarship funds available.

Although the California Dream Act’s detractors say that this law “rewards” illegal immigration, supporters point to the fact that the state measure does in no way affect the undocumented immigration status of the students concerned. In fact, it has no mechanism for easing the path to legal status for even the most talented and deserving undocumented immigrant student.

Other states that have passed similar in-state tuition parity laws for undocumented immigrant students are: Maryland, New Mexico,Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Washington, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, and New York. However, these states have faced some criticism because, unlike California, there were no parts of their DREAM Acts offering undocumented immigrant students state-funded scholarships.

Some critics claim that the rapid passage of DREAM Acts in many of the eleven states reflects more the bonanza of getting more students for cash-strapped educational institutions than any other motive.

nevit via stock.xchng

Time to look across the pond where I just read about fifteen-year-old Oakland, California student Tyler Thompson whose hobby sets him apart from many of his peers. As an African-American student in the Purple Silk Music Education program, Thompson teaches Oakland-based low income immigrant kids how to play and sing traditional Chinese musical fare.

Thompson told the Associated Press he finds the music “very beautiful” and “ passionate.” Thompson received a standing ovation for performing a centuries old musical theater piece at Washington’s World Children’s Festival last June. According to Thompson, the music has made him curious about the world outside of Oakland, outside of California, and outside of America.

Thompson first learned Chinese language singing when he was a kindergarten student taking a music class in Oakland’s Lincoln Elementary School Lincoln Elementary School’s student population is over 90 percent Asian. His teacher recruited him to join the Purple Silk Music Program. The program teaches students how to play traditional Chinese instruments and sing Chinese songs. Thompson performed his first solo came when he was six years old at Davies Symphony Hall. He has also appeared at “Good Morning America” on ABC. He has performed at the US State Department for Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and Secretary of State Condoleeza
Rice.

Thompson’s mother said that her son’s cross-cultural experiences have made him more open minded. Although he says some students joke about how a black Oakland kid can sign Chinese, Thompson says he plans to further continue singing Chinese traditional songs since this art from has opened doors of opportunity for him.

photo © 2008 Tulane Public Relations | more info (via: Wylio)

I am sort of ambivalent about the plans. Lets not forget that Zijlstra is the same guy who helped cut the cultural budget by 20 percent in late June and he is part of the same government that aims to balance the budget by cutting social programs across the board while sparing banks, home owners and the like. The majority of the Dutch people stood behind these cuts though and quite frankly I tend to agree that something needed to be done to boost the quality of universities…

Source: www.lentiz.nl

I have been getting some questions on the Dutch education system and where exactly the ISK figures in and what some of the practices are. Well, on the graphic on the right, you can see a middle section that stands for ages 12 to 18 and on the very right there is a red bar that reads “Special Secondary Education”. ISK falls into that description and is placed somewhat outside of the system.

The ISK or reception classes for foreign students in secondary education go back to 1970s when migrant workers started arriving from Mediterranean countries and it was noticed that their children had trouble integrating into the school system. So schools began creating separate classroom for foreign students where the main focus was learning the Dutch language. Afters some years schools switched to create parallel education tracks for these children, necessitated by the high ratio of non-Dutch-speaking students per class which made immersion in the regular classroom increasingly difficult. Especially schools in areas with large working class neighbourhoods in the Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Utrecht then separated foreign students and placed them in  special reception school classes. Other schools continued to immerse them in the regular classroom, adding just some additional support in Dutch. There is also a mixed model which combines the two approaches. These three approaches continue to determine the reception of migrant children in secondary education, with the parallel approach probably being the most popular…

Check out this article for more.

Participants include teachers, counselors and coordinators of ISK-classes. In this network, they can practice with each other and discuss methods and approaches. Also educational material specially developed for the schakelklas can be exchanged.

http://www.sardes.nl/C162-Schakelklassen.html

Sardes also writes on their homepage that in 2012 40 million Euros will be available for bridging and summer courses, specifically aimed at using buildings, infrastructure and facilities at schools for training and education activities on weekends and holidays, with possible increases in funding for 2013.

http://www.schakel-klassen.nl/C19-Wet–en-regelgeving.html

photo © 1975 The U.S. National Archives | more info (via: Wylio)

All the more reason to support ISK education for immigrant children. Not only will their integration into the Dutch school system help them adjust, with their skills and knowledge they can also contribute to the improvement of overall Dutch score results. Many immigrants are from cultures where math and science are highly valued, they might already bring with them some skills but certainly the curiosity. As a country, we would be fools not to encourage that curiosity and foster the talent…