Absense

Last academic year I worked paraprofessionally in a French public school district, teaching English at the primary grade level. France is a country that, frankly, does not embrace its Multiculturality as much as America, mostly because I think immigration from Northern Africa has in recent years become very widespread. It is very much a heated topic in French society. In a classroom setting I regularly saw students being reprimanded for speaking Arabic amongst themselves, and the widely-known religious controversy played out before me very often. I was for example asked to not wear a modest necklace advertising my religious affiliation. It is a cultural debate that unfortunately affects the youngest members of society very deeply. I see schools as mini-societies that absolutely correspond to Adult life, and should prepare its members adequately for Adulthood. The founding fathers of our country worked very hard to establish free, public education available to everyone. As a public school its very essence is one of diversity and equality for each child. Its duty is to provide a balanced experience for each member. It would be defying the very essence of America to not provide an indiscriminatory, balanced, equitable, and respectful environment for learning. The result of providing this education is educating a new generation of people that undoubtably will influence the future state of our society. I personally wondered, while in France, the long-term effect on a student of being constantly reminded, in front of peers, that he or she is "other" and very different compared to their French classmates, and even to avoid any affiliation with his or her religion or language spoken at home. I believe that this process of cultural detachment absolutely translates to a student's world outlook and definitely on his or her academic progress through the post-secondary level.