Lost in Translation – Migrant Students Navigating the American Education System

I came across this blog through a Google Alert yesterday and it holds a lot of potential. Basically, the ‘owner’ is gearing up to get migrant students from his school to blog about their experiences, to tell their stories and helped by a grant from AILF. They may also blog in languages besides English (YES PLEASE). The idea has a lot of potential and I am looking forward to hearing some stories.

I don’t think I have ever written about my experiences as a LEGAL immigrant student at an American public high school. I would rather not revisit that period of my life. First, my counselor put me in a grade that I had already completed back in Fiji (10) not due to any scores but due to my ‘age’ – I discovered later that he did not need to do that. THEN, instead of placing me in tough honors classes since I tested above 12+, I was placed in almost-remedial activities like P.E., Art, English-P, Intro to Biology … I tried making up for this in Grades 11 and 12 when it became clear that the material I was learning seemed like Grade 6 in Fiji. The saving grace was the new policy debate program and Ethnic Studies that became the starting point of my activism and radical roots. Lets not launch into a discussion about how I found American students to be superficial and materialistic, not to mention culturally insensitive for making fun of my accent, Payless shoes and simple attire. Well, it still beat the rampant homophobia I experienced in Fiji so I ain’t complaining.

Sorry for the diatribe. It would be great if everyone with a pro-migrant and/or DREAM blog could put up a link to it sooner or later as it develops.

Also, feel free to bring to my attention other new sites or projects that are pro-migrant.