Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
An exploration of immigrant education told through key historical moments, current experiments to improve immigrant education, and profiles of immigrant youth and schools across the country For more than a century, American public schools have been charged with taking children from across the globe and educating, integrating, and shaping them into our society while the country has continuously argued, fought, and experimented with how to do this task--including what it means to be an American. In Making Americans, journalist and educator Jessica Lander uses the past, present, and personal to provide a sweeping yet intimate look at how schools and society have grappled with immigrant education over the past 150 years.
Making Americans explores eight essential foundations for the making of Americans: new beginnings, community, security, the opportunity to dream, advocates, being valued, acceptance, and voice. Lander offers a comprehensive look into the realities of immigrant education through key historical events, innovative schools that strive to welcome and integrate newcomers, and personal accounts of young people who seek to understand their place in America today--from the parochial teacher in rural Nebraska who, after being arrested for teaching a ten-year-old boy in German, took his case to the Supreme Court to the California family who overturned school segregation for Mexican-American children and laid the foundation for desegregation nationwide.
Making Americans provides a clear vision for how schools can help instill a sense of belonging in newcomers and will unleash a catalyst for change through its portraits of innovative experiments across the country for reimagining education.
Synopsis
A landmark work that weaves captivating stories about the past, present, and personal into an inspiring vision for how America can educate immigrant students Setting out from her classroom, Jessica Lander takes the reader on a powerful and urgent journey to understand what it takes for immigrant students to become Americans. A compelling read for everyone who cares about America's future, Making Americans brims with innovative ideas for educators and policy makers across the country.
Lander brings to life the history of America's efforts to educate immigrants through rich stories, including these:
-The Nebraska teacher arrested for teaching a ten-year-old boy in German who took his case to the Supreme Court
-The California family who overturned school segregation for Mexican American children
-The Texas families who risked deportation to establish the right for all children to attend school
She visits innovative classrooms across the country that work with immigrant-origin students, such as these:
-A school in Georgia for refugee girls who have been kept from school by violence, poverty, and natural disaster
-Five schools in Aurora, Colorado, that came together to collaborate with community groups, businesses, a hospital, and families to support newcomer children.
-A North Carolina school district of more than 100 schools who rethought how they teach their immigrant-origin students
She shares inspiring stories of how seven of her own immigrant students created new homes in America, including the following:
-The boy who escaped Baghdad and found a home in his school's ROTC program
-The daughter of Cambodian genocide survivors who dreamed of becoming a computer scientist
-The orphaned boy who escaped violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and created his own community here
Making Americans is an exploration of immigrant education across the country told through key historical moments, current experiments to improve immigrant education, and profiles of immigrant students. Making Americans is a remarkable book that will reshape how we all think about nurturing one of America's greatest assets: the newcomers who enrich this country with their energy, talents, and drive.