School Curriculum in Greece
Due to mass immigration in Greece, we are able to assume that a lot immigrant students attend the Greek school, and as a result, school classrooms are not characterized by homogeneity (Kurdi & Papadopoulos, 2003). However, Greek educational system is still monocultural and monolingual and does not promote bilingual education although there are students from different countries with different language and culture (Katsikas & Politou, 2005).
The Greek school continue to be monolingual because there is a belief that with this way there is a continuation of Hellenism (Zampeta, 2003). However, it was observed that in many countries with monolingual educational system immigrant students do not have an equivalent school performance and their native classmates have a better performance than them (Pisa, 2003). We can assume that education is an important factor of social cohesion, because several norms and values are transmitted by education to students, it is obvious that if immigrants do not have the same opportunities in education this will have an effect on their integration, however, educational systems in many countries continue to offer a monolingual education, and, as a result, the majority of immigrant students have a lower school performance (Pisa, 2003).
In Greece, where, the education is still based on a monolingual educational system, it was observed that the 43,75% of Greek students have an excellent school performance in primary school whereas only the 2,67% of immigrant students have the same school perfomance (Sinanidou & Tzortzi, 2005). Moreover, the 11,5% of immigrant students have a very low school performance in primary school whereas only the 2,6% of Greek students have a very low p...
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...other hand, immigrant parents, face several economic difficulties in Greece and as a consequence, they do not have a lot of expectations from their children’s education (Damanakis, 2005). After that, we are able to assume the importance of cultural capital and economic status and how these factors have an effect on educational attainment, helping Pontic Greek students to have more chances to succeed in education.
However, it is quite useful, to mention the similarities, of Greece and other countries such as Germany, on immigration issues, and more specifically in education of repatriates and the others immigrants, because this will help us to give an answer to our question about whether Pontic Greeks students are more likely to have a better school performance than the other immigrant students. The next section provides us useful information about this issue.
Bilingual education offers a completely different world for students of different ethnic background and thus creates a comfort zone limiting the risk-taking factor necessary for the maturation of a child to an adult. Rodriguez argues supporters of bilingualism fail to realize "while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality" (Rodriguez 26). He explains that the imperative "radical self-reformation" required by education is lost by offering bilingual education and such a program suggests a place where the need for a sense of public identity disappears. A bilingual program gives a student the opportunity to be separated from real life and institutes a life that leaves out an essential understanding of the world. Bilingual students do not know the complexities of their world, including emotion, ethics, and logic, because the bilingual program secludes the eager minds to a much simpler, more naïve idea of how the society works, leaving out the confidence of belonging in public. This situation not only limits the education experience for non-English speaking students, but also hinders the further education of English speaking students by erecting a communicat...
on in the Greek society, poor and rich students all went to school and all men
I interviewed my advisor who is a Greek American attended high school in Tampa, Florida between 1971 and 1975. During this period, progressive education emerged again in the U.S. high school because of social and political reasons, including ongoing protests against the Vietnam War and nationwide desegregation for African American (Ravitch, 2000). I chose him as my interviewee because I was interested in exploring the effects of progressive theories for these immigrant students. He attended the single-sex magnet high school, which contains more than 50 percent Greek immigrants. He recalled that he did take the intelligence ...
---. "Immigrant Students and Public Schools: A Fluent Fit - Public School Review." Public School Review - Profiles of USA Public Schools. 15 Apr. 2010. Web. 01 Feb. 2011.
The goal of this research is to find out why the immigrant students have to face more challenges in the level of education they achieve, the high level poverty that they face in their daily lives and all the confusing networks they have around them which they have no clue of how to utilize it. Also, the research focusses on the fewer resources immigrant students have while achieving their goals. The research question is important as it does affect all immigrant students and their respective families and not limited just to the immigrant. I am sure many families move to a different country to achieve better education and to make a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones. These families come with so much hope and faith, but in return they are bombarded with so much confusing information that it’s very easy for them to get lost and give up. At last, children are the future and if from being they don’t have the correct resources then how will they achieve their goals.
Greg Lewis in “An Open Letter to Diversity’s Victims” advocates against the need for many languages in school programs, in American. Greg describes that those who are after what they refer to as “diversity” have been insisting that the American schools should be taught both in English and Spanish. The so called liberals base their arguments on the fact that, teaching a single language would obsolete the cultural identity of the Hispanic people. Greg’s arguments, use of quotations, tone, and mood show the need as to why single language system should be continued.
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
Thomas; Collier. ( 2002). A national study of school effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement. Escholarship.org. Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/65j213pt#page-312
There has been a major change in the past thirty years regarding the amount of immigrants coming to the United States. The impact the immigrants have had on education and diversity is unbelievable. There are many factors which contribute to the element of diversity in education, such as each student 's culture, the different languages each student speaks, promoting gender equality amongst students, and working with students who have exceptionalities. As today 's educators, teachers must understand diversity from an omniscient perspective and the influence it has on students, making the process of getting an education as equal and pleasant as possible for all students.
...thousands of years. Generally, bilingual education can mean any use of two languages in school, by teachers, students, or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical purposes. It also refers to the different approaches in the classroom that use the native languages of English language learners (ELLs) for instruction. These approaches include teaching English, fostering academic achievement, acculturating immigrants to a new society, and preserving a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage. Building on, rather than just discarding the students’ native-language skills, create a stronger foundation for success in English and academics. Also, if students learn languages at a younger age, it will be easier to remember and learn them, rather than if they were older. It helps to learn another language for students, and can later be useful in the future.
Schooling and education in the past were only attended and given to rich, wealthy people and males. In the Greek education system, only males were given the opportunity to go to school, while the women and slaves stayed home and worked. Education in America has some of the average test scores and lower grades in the world, and there are many problems with the system itself. According to a poll taken by registered voters, lack of school choices wasn’t a very big issue compared to the number of votes that said that absence of parental involvement and budget cuts were. When students graduate from high school, there is a good portion that are not fully ready for college. There are at least twenty things that are very important skills in life that
America, a country built on immigration dating back to the early 1600s Mayflower voyage, continues to thrive as a melting pot full of various cultures and ethnics. In the past, many immigrants came to America due to the offered freedoms and equality, yet today, many naturalized citizens suffer with injustices, including with educational practices. The use of bilingual education, which is teaching students in both English and their native language, has become a controversial topic. In 1968, the Bilingual Education Act, which recognized and offered education to students who were lacking English, was passed, yet the topic still seems questionable to some. Bilingual education provides a variety of beneficial attributes to equally help foreigners
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.
Prior to the creation of state maintained schools and academies in Greece, higher education was mainly reserved for the elite persons of a community (Handbook: Greece 253). Training for these citizens consisted of instruction in the areas of music, poetry, numeracy, and religious ritual (Handbook: Greece 253).
As time goes by and as the global community develops, the world grows more and more international, making second or third language acquisition become necessary to the majority. With the growing importance of multiple language ability, more and more parents think of bilingual or multilingual education, which means acquisitions of two or more languages, for their kids. In fact, we do have many reasons showing why multilingual education is important and beneficial, such as aspects of interpersonal relationship, employment, brain health, and so on.