Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A visionary leader's story of the nation's first school network for refugee children--a moving blueprint for change that will inspire schools and communities across America
Synopsis
A visionary leader's story of the nation's first school network for refugee children--a moving blueprint for change that will inspire schools and communities across America
Luma Mufleh's compelling story begins when she--a Muslim woman, a gay refugee from hyper-conservative Jordan--joins a pickup game of soccer in Clarkston, Georgia. One player, 12-year-old Oosman, from war-torn Liberia, is a talented goalie with missing fingers, courtesy of the Taliban. Lewis, an 11-year-old refugee from Sudan, has attended local schools for several years. To the surprise of Mufleh, a graduate of elite Smith College still traumatized by her own struggles to assimilate, few of the players can read a word. She asks, "Where was the America that had taken me in? That protected me? How could I get these kids to that America?"
For readers of Malala, Paul Tough, and Bryan Stevenson, Learning America is the moving and insight-packed story of how Luma Mufleh grew a soccer team into a nationally acclaimed network of schools--by homing in laserlike on what traumatized students need in order to learn. Fugees accepts only those most in need: students recruit other students, and all share a background of war, poverty, and trauma. No student passes a grade without earning it; the failure of any student is the responsibility of all. Most foundational, everyone takes art and music and everyone plays soccer, areas where students make the leaps that can and must happen--as this gifted refugee activist convinces--even for America's most left-behind.
Synopsis
A visionary leader's powerful personal story and a blueprint for change that will inspire schools and communities across America
Luma Mufleh--a Muslim woman, a gay refugee from hyper-conservative Jordan--joins a pick-up game of soccer in Clarkston, Georgia. The players, 11- and 12-year-olds from Liberia and Afghanistan and Sudan, have attended local schools for years. Drawn in as coach of a ragtag but fiercely competitive team, Mufleh discovers that few of her players can read a word. She asks, "Where was the America that took me in? That protected me? How can I get these kids to that America?"
For readers of Malala, Paul Tough, and Bryan Stevenson,
Learning America is the moving and insight-packed story of how Luma Mufleh grew a soccer team into a nationally acclaimed network of schools--by homing in laserlike on what traumatized students need in order to learn. Fugees accepts only those most in need: students recruit other students, and all share a background of war, poverty, and trauma. No student passes a grade without earning it; the failure of any student is the responsibility of all. Most foundational, everyone takes art and music and everyone plays soccer, areas where students make the leaps that can and must happen--as this gifted refugee activist convinces--even for America's most left-behind.
Synopsis
" From] an influential educational leader and activist...an impassioned, penetrating critique and inspiring model for progress."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
It was a wrong turn that changed everything. When Luma Mufleh--a Muslim, gay, refugee woman from hyper-conservative Jordan--stumbled upon a pick-up game of soccer in Clarkston, Georgia, something compelled her to join. The players, 11- and 12-year-olds from Liberia, Afghanistan, and Sudan, soon welcomed her as coach of their ragtag but fiercely competitive group. Drawn into their lives, Mufleh learned that few of her players, all local public school students, could read a single word. She asks, "Where was the America that took me in? That protected me? How can I get these kids to that America?"
Learning America traces the story of how Mufleh grew a group of kids into a soccer team and then into a nationally acclaimed network of schools for refugee children. The journey is inspiring and hard-won: Fugees schools accept only those most in need; no student passes a grade without earning it; the failure of any student is the responsibility of all. Soccer as a part of every school day is a powerful catalyst to heal trauma, create belonging, and accelerate learning. Finally, this gifted storyteller delivers provocative, indelible portraits of student after student making leaps in learning that aren't supposed to be possible for children born into trauma--stories that shine powerful light on the path to educational justice for all of America's most left-behind.