9.3 Media Reflection — Group 1 — Colleen Burke
German school system still holds back children of migrants, experts say
By Sarah Lawton (March 2021)
Much of this week’s reading touched on experiences of students who are immigrants. One article that stood out to me was the experience of those students in European countries and how that may differ from that of students in the United States. Upon further exploration, I came across this article about children of migrants within the school system in Germany.
The article states that students who have at least one parent not born with German citizenship are 4x as likely to be impacted by “education-related risk factors” (Lawton, 2021). This includes many of Germany’s public schools not being set up for migrant families, delegating part of the learning to parents. This can negatively impact education access if parents speak a different language or have to work during those hours.
Another article by the same author, “New Study Sheds light on Discrimination in the German Education System”, focused specifically on Sinti and Roma people throughout Germany. These groups are considered to be at a disadvantage, with a third of survey respondents leaving secondary school “without receiving a leaving certificate, and another 30% having a degree from a Hauptschule, the lowest track in the German education system” (Lawton, 2021). While Sinti and Roma people are not recent immigrants, it shows the difficulty and discrimination still experienced among populations in Germany that aren’t the “majority.”
These findings align with some of the information in the Thomas and Crul article, referencing second generation students. Looking at Germany, this article highlighted that many Turkish students “live in a parallel world detached from wider German society” (Thompson & Crul, 2007). Meaning that folks in the German school system, who aren’t a part of that majority, may experience a lack of support or adjustment to their needs and are missing out or experiencing an entirely different system altogether.
Resources:
Lawton, S. (2021, February 26). New Study Sheds Light on discrimination in the German education system. www.euractiv.com. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/non-discrimination/news/new-study-sheds-light-on-racial-discrimination-in-the-german-education-system/
Lawton, S. (2021, March 29). German school system still holds back children of Migrants, experts say. www.euractiv.com. Retrieved from https://www.euractiv.com/section/non-discrimination/news/experts-criticise-inequality-in-german-schools/ Thomson, M., and Crul, M. (2007) The second generation in Europe and the United States: How is the transatlantic debate relevant for further research on the European second generation? In Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies Vol.33
Thomson, M., and Crul, M. (2007) The second generation in Europe and the United States: How is the transatlantic debate relevant for further research on the European second generation? In Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies Vol.33