All posts by nicholas.marinilli

Ukrainian Refugee Education

Nicholas Marinilli, Group 6

Media Source: Ukraine: UNESCO’s response to children’s education needs (United Nations, 2022)

Over 4 million people have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War — half of those refugees are children. Ukraine’s total school-age population stands shy of 7 million students, meaning roughly 30% of Ukrainian children are currently going without their traditional education (United Nations, 2022). This humanitarian crisis has created an education crisis for Ukrainian refugees and the allies working to ensure their access to proper education and health services. The United Nations agency has said that the war has “calls for increased coordination of host countries, both within and outside the EU, to assist and integrate Ukrainian learners, teachers and education staff in national education systems” (UN, 2022). If Ukrainian refugees are to receive an education, it will require a collective effort on everyone’s part.

It is helpful to map how countries support the educational needs of Ukrainian refugees. It is crucial to know how learners become integrated into mainstream education, the language and curriculum considerations decided, the psychosocial support students may need, the training and accreditation teachers will need, and more (UN, 2022). As inclusion is at the heart of this educational and humanitarian crisis, most students begin with transition classes that provide language classes, familiarise students with their local education system, provide psychological support, and evaluate competencies. Students become integrated into regular classes once their language skills improve (UN, 2022).

A significant factor that impacts refugee education is the level of financial support they have when dealing with the educational needs and resources of the host country. During the Russo-Ukrainian War, many countries tried to offer financial support to Ukrainian refugees. For example, Austria, France, Hungary, Polan, and Romania have waived tuition and provided financial support services to recent Ukrainian refugees (UN, 2022). Some governments have developed financial measures to support the education response, such as extra-budgetary allocation. Financial assistance has been helpful for Ukrainian refugees — the opposite experience of Syrian refugees in Lebanon as they cannot afford to pay for the local education (Human Rights Watch, 2016).

References:

Human Rights Watch (2016) “Growing Up Without an Education”: Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon.

United Nations. (2022). Ukraine: UNESCO’s response to children’s education needs. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1115122

7.3 Media Reflection (Nick Marinilli, Group 6)

Article: The Long War over the Ukrainian Language (Peterson, 2014)

The Russo-Ukrainian War officially began late February 2014. While tensions in this war have recently escalated as President Putin of Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine, the battle between Russia and Ukraine started a long time prior to 2014. In 1863, there was a Russian rule suspending religious and educational texts in Ukrainian in an attempt to condemn the “Little Russian” language that was formed by the “illiterate peasants” (Peterson, 2014). These attacks purposely degrade the language and identity of the Ukrainian people. Russia banned the public use of Ukrainian altogether in 1876 (Peterson, 2014). Then, during the 1920-1930s, Stalin enforced Russification, or the rewriting of dictionaries to purge the Ukrainian language from the country. 

The Ukrainian language resembles centuries of linguistic and demographic oppression. Most Ukrainians are bilingual and speak fluent Russian and Ukrainian. They are dynamic bilinguals who use both languages in different contexts and know how and when to shift languages (Proctor, 2018). Russians claim to understand Ukrainian but only do so in an attempt to demote the language to a Russian dialect. Most Russians struggle to comprehend Ukrainian and would be considered linguistic interdependent bilinguals who may be able to recognize the meaning of words due to similarities with their own language (Proctor, 2018). 

The history of the Russian versus Ukrainian languages bear similarities to how America banned the use of Native American languages and created Native American boarding schools (Homza, 2021). Russians view the Ukrainian language as being uncivilized and feel they must assimilate Ukrainians. Ukrainians on the other hand have reclaimed their culture and language and have used it to repair the broken circle of cultural loss and pain caused by Russia (Homza, 2021). Ukrainian is not simply a language; it is a culture, a social movement, complex social history, and above all, a beacon for independence.  

Homza, A. (2021). Education of Immigrant Students. https://bostoncollege.instructure.com/courses/1627913/pages/7-dot-2-key-concepts-wednesday?module_item_id=18008199

Leider, C.M., Proctor, P. & Silverman, R. (2018) Language growth trajectories: Does immigrant generation status moderate linguistic interdependence? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Peterson, B. (2014). The long war over the Ukrainian language . BostonGlobe.com. https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/15/the-long-war-over-ukrainian-language/HXlLbK9wVnhwGShNVPKIUP/story.html

Marinilli – Practice Media Reflection Blog

Immigrating to America through Ellis Island

PHOTOGRAPH BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS

“In the main hall of the immigration station on Ellis Island, immigrants wait for the next phase of inspection. On some days, more than 5,000 people filled this room.”

When I think about immigration, one of the first images that pops into my mind is Ellis Island in New York City. I grew up on stories of my grandparents traveling from Italy and arriving in the United States at Ellis Island (one of my favorites being how my grandfather corrected the spelling of our last name on his documentation from “Marinelli” to “Marinilli”). While immigrants may not be entering the US through Ellis Island anymore, it resembles the idea that people will migrate and ultimately find themselves in a host country that could become their next home. However, what happens to these people upon entering the United States has a much fuzzier image to it: how will children get an education? How will people make money? Find a home? Learn a new language? Adapt? Conform?