Made in America: Chapter 8

I was completely astounded by the fact that the principal of Madison was oblivious to the immigrant population in his school.  This made me even more upset than learning how ignorant the teachers were in regards to their ESL students because the principal runs the school – he/she sets the example for the rest of the faculty.  The fact that he wasn’t even aware of the demographics of his student population was horrendous.  It goes to show how little thought or attention is paid to the immigrant students.  On a larger scale, I think that the principal’s ignorance is a good indicator of how resistant the rest of the country is in regard to increasing immigrant populations. 

It was absolutely ridiculous to read that the teachers and administration at Madison viewed diversity as accepting everyone as equal, the same.  They all claimed not to notice skin color or cultural/ethnic indicators; instead, their students are a giant melting pot and all get a long.  The principal even went so far as to call it “the real world.”

I think that that kind of mindset is extremely dangerous when concerning immigrant students.  It is important for them to feel like their heritage/culture is accepted and it is important for them to get quality education.  The teachers at Madison seem extremely selfish; they pass the buck when it comes to ESL students because they feel like it is more work for them.  Their idea that “diversity means conformity” is yet again a lazy attempt to hide their inaction in terms of immigrant population growth.  The teachers and administrators try to hide behind this cookie-cutter view of diversity so they don’t have to spend time addressing the actual issues in the school.

Teachers claim that they don’t see race, but when the students were describing the school population, race was one of the most determining factors of which group you belong to.  The administrators are unwilling to accept that there has been a major shift in the population which requires another major shift in the teaching strategies used.  Instead, they ignore the changes (and the need for change) leaving students behind and condemning many to low achievement levels.

What can be done for schools like Madison?  How can we show teachers that accommodating for their immigrant minority students is not a burden, just a simple task of altering their teaching approach?  Instead of sorting students by age, what would be a more appropriate way to organize students in a way that allows them to achieve their maximum learning potential?