{"id":29325,"date":"2016-02-24T08:14:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T14:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=29325"},"modified":"2016-02-24T08:14:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T14:14:11","slug":"syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nikita Mandhani<\/strong><\/p>\n

Firas Jawish arrived in Chicago with his family as a Syrian refugee in September 2014. Despite being a doctor, he makes ends meet by working in a data entry job at a clinic. One of his daily concerns is finding an appropriate school for his 3-year-old son, Hasan.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want him to go to a play school,\u201d said Jawish, explaining that he didn\u2019t want him \u201cto stop speaking Arabic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switching between Arabic and some English, 35-year-old Jawish spoke of the confusion Hasan would go through if he were to learn English and Spanish in a public school and Arabic at home. Private Arabic schools are too expensive, he added.<\/p>\n

When refugees come to the United States via the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees <\/a>(UNHCR), they are placed with a resettlement agency. The agency helps with housing, job search and school enrollments for their children in addition to providing other services that can help them lead a routine life.<\/p>\n

More than half the Syrian refugees who were resettled in the U.S. between October 2010 and November 2015 are under the age of 20, according to a study conducted by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), a non-profit educational organization headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.<\/p>\n

For many of the children, the transition from Arabic to English is the toughest educational challenge. For others, it\u2019s something as frustrating as the lack of legal documents to verify their ages.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy younger son doesn\u2019t have many friends in school because he can\u2019t speak good English,\u201d Dua Lababide, a 27-year-old mother of two, said in Arabic. Lababide came to Chicago about ten months ago with her husband and two sons, third-grader Anas Shaikh Subh and Yousaf Shaikh Subh, who is in kindergarten.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe older one likes school more here,\u201d she said of Anas, while noting that Yousaf doesn\u2019t interact in school because he is scared that he\u2019ll get a word wrong.<\/p>\n

The Heartland Alliance<\/a> in Chicago helped with their resettlement and the sons\u2019 school admissions but Lababide credits the Syrian Community Network <\/a>(SCN) for helping more with basic communication with school officials, something that she can\u2019t do herself because of her poor English.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe help them with parent teacher conferences,\u201d said Suzanne Akhras, founder and president of the Syrian Community Network. \u201cWe have attended graduations. We celebrate with the families the achievements of their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Akhras added that her organization provides several English assistance programs for Syrian refugee children so that it is easier for them to overcome the language barrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are starting our mentorship program,\u201d she said, describing an upcoming program through which SCN volunteers will help refugee children with tutoring.<\/p>\n

In addition to these efforts, Akhras\u2019 organization tries to find relevant services like GirlForward<\/a>, an organization that mentors adolescent refugee girls and provides educational programs and leadership opportunities.<\/p>\n

For Kamar Leadda, a 17-year-old Syrian refugee who arrived in Chicago about two months ago, the school admissions process was perplexing. She said that she was supposed to be in the twelfth grade at Silvin High School but was moved back two years. Kamar struggles with English.<\/p>\n

This is a common problem, according to Ashley Marine, the program coordinator at GirlForward.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the very beginning, enrollment can be hard for a refugee student based on their age and prior experience,\u201d said Marine. \u201cHere in the U.S., you might not have access to school reports from your home country. Even if you went to high school in your home country, you can\u2019t prove it and you might not get to go to the same grade when you arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marine points out that many girls at GirlForward have had limited or no access to education in their home countries. But, in the U.S. educational system, high school attendance is required for anyone above the age of 14, which can be challenging. Many refugees aren\u2019t familiar with the customs of an American school and don\u2019t know how to get ahead.<\/p>\n

Despite the struggles of learning the English language, understanding American culture and adjusting to a different school system, Marine said that refugee children \u201chave a great desire to learn\u201d because in many cases education was something that was taken away from them.<\/p>\n

Describing how a number of the refugee children want to become doctors, she said, \u201cGirls that we serve see education as a pathway to a different life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arabic to English translations by Bian Elkhatib<\/p>\n

Photo on top: Ashley Marine attended a documentary screening at Northwestern Law School with some GirlForward team members and refugee girls (Nikita Mandhani\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nikita Mandhani Firas Jawish arrived in Chicago with his family as a Syrian refugee in September 2014. Despite being a doctor, he makes ends meet by working in a data entry job at a clinic. One of his daily concerns is finding an appropriate school for his 3-year-old son, Hasan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":31896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,675,585],"tags":[1574,1576,790,1577,1575],"class_list":["post-29325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-girlforward","tag-heartland-alliance","tag-refugees","tag-syrian-community-network","tag-unhcr"],"yoast_head":"\nSyrian refugees struggle with American schools - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Nikita Mandhani Firas Jawish arrived in Chicago with his family as a Syrian refugee in September 2014. Despite being a doctor, he makes ends meet by working in a data entry job at a clinic. One of his daily concerns is finding an appropriate school for his 3-year-old son, Hasan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-24T14:14:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nikitamandhani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"nikitamandhani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"nikitamandhani\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eca11f0d9349b3f44edae237bf300b78\"},\"headline\":\"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-24T14:14:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":771,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"GirlForward\",\"Heartland Alliance\",\"refugees\",\"Syrian Community Network\",\"UNHCR\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Interest\",\"Public Affairs\",\"Social Justice\",\"Winter 2016\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/\",\"name\":\"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-24T14:14:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eca11f0d9349b3f44edae237bf300b78\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Ashley Marine, along with some GirlForward team members and refugee girls, attended a documentary screening at Northwestern Law School (Nikita Mandhani\\\/MEDILL)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eca11f0d9349b3f44edae237bf300b78\",\"name\":\"nikitamandhani\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2bc392f588fa63e9859c3aee48803c4488a40c0c6ba02065e5b350ce2dab4748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2bc392f588fa63e9859c3aee48803c4488a40c0c6ba02065e5b350ce2dab4748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2bc392f588fa63e9859c3aee48803c4488a40c0c6ba02065e5b350ce2dab4748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"nikitamandhani\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/author\\\/nikitamandhani\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Nikita Mandhani Firas Jawish arrived in Chicago with his family as a Syrian refugee in September 2014. Despite being a doctor, he makes ends meet by working in a data entry job at a clinic. One of his daily concerns is finding an appropriate school for his 3-year-old son, Hasan.","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-02-24T14:14:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"nikitamandhani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"nikitamandhani","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/"},"author":{"name":"nikitamandhani","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eca11f0d9349b3f44edae237bf300b78"},"headline":"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools","datePublished":"2016-02-24T14:14:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/"},"wordCount":771,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg","keywords":["GirlForward","Heartland Alliance","refugees","Syrian Community Network","UNHCR"],"articleSection":["General Interest","Public Affairs","Social Justice","Winter 2016"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/","name":"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-24T14:14:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eca11f0d9349b3f44edae237bf300b78"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/ashley-girlforwardteam.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Ashley Marine, along with some GirlForward team members and refugee girls, attended a documentary screening at Northwestern Law School (Nikita Mandhani\/MEDILL)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/syrian-refugees-struggle-with-american-schools\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Syrian refugees struggle with American schools"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eca11f0d9349b3f44edae237bf300b78","name":"nikitamandhani","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bc392f588fa63e9859c3aee48803c4488a40c0c6ba02065e5b350ce2dab4748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bc392f588fa63e9859c3aee48803c4488a40c0c6ba02065e5b350ce2dab4748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bc392f588fa63e9859c3aee48803c4488a40c0c6ba02065e5b350ce2dab4748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"nikitamandhani"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/nikitamandhani\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}