Our America

Thanks to El Machete, I have had my awareness raised about an issue that is undoubtedly affecting young people we work with in New York City schools--deportation.

Did you know that some of our young people are considered "undocumented", and that these children face deportation the minute they turn eighteen? Teens who have spent their entire lives in the United States are subject to arrest and criminal proceedings--the purpose being to send them "home" to countries they might not even remember.

A related article in the New York Times notes that immigrant students have recently taken high profile advocacy roles around this issue, risking much.

A group of young filmmakers responding to this issue have produced a CD of topical songs, sales of which will benefit the production of their issue-oriented movie "Papers".

Finally, A recently issued report from a New York State review panel says our system of juvenile prisons is broken, with "young people battling mental illness or addiction held alongside violent offenders in abysmal facilities where they receive little counseling, can be physically abused and rarely get even a basic education..."

Who Knows?

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Perhaps their best known, and least loved program, is the SAT--but they do much more. For example, they have an annual conference for professional educators that focuses on something important. This year, the conference is about "Education and the American Future."

As part of a session on ways to motivate students to stay in school, Dale Davis, ATA Executive Director, read a few stunning poems written by young men who were not actually adults when they were "tried and convicted as adults."

As educators, we need to find more effective strategies for keeping young people engaged, and in school. Perhaps, as the New York State Literacy Center has already done, we should ask a few of the thousands of children in our prisons what they think about the schools, institutions and adults that failed them?

Imagine the answers we'd get.

Also: A Quick History of the Young Lords - Documentary