Education is vital in order to be successful in any society. When the issues of immigrants and language barriers become introduced, differences in education become apparent. Through looking at the way in which Italy has coped with this great influx of immigrants in their education system, it becomes apparent of the doors that are both left open to help them out in addition to the numerous ways in which their government has made it difficult to integrate into society. Gerlmini’s new 30% rule in addition to the lack of programs in schools to help out immigrants definitely closes doors for immigrants. On the other hand, certain centers and language programs set up throughout the city are designed to help immigrants integrate into society. These open and closed doors as far as education for immigrants in Italy are then compared to those doors in the United States. Such programs such as ESL help out children while other programs are not distributed evenly, therefore closing off many opportunities to succeed for immigrants.
For Italian immigrants, it becomes very difficult to receive an adequate education due to the numerous closed doors immigrants are faced with. One in particular is Gerlmini’s new law that prohibits Italian schools from exceeding having 30% foreign students in a class. This law, as discussed by our guest speakers Fedelicia Bianchi and Anna Onorati, greatly restricts certain immigrant groups from having easy access to education. In areas that are high in immigrants, many are forced to commute longer distances to attend a school with a lower percentage of foreign born students in the classroom. This commute deters these students from having an optimal education and only further restricts immigrants from being able to integrate into the Italian society. This new law makes me question the motives behind the Italian government. If the government is trying to make it more difficult for these immigrants to obtain an education, it seems almost as if Italy is only hurting itself by not educating its’ population.
In addition to this new law, Bianchi and Onorati also discussed the lack of resources offered to immigrant children in schools. They talked about how there are programs set up to help immigrant kids who are having difficulty but how these programs are only offered one day a week for a few hours. In order to be successful in school, programs like these must be offered more often in order to really make a difference in integrating immigrants into to Italian society. After hearing this information, it makes me wonder what must be done in school systems in order to develop programs like these more often?
Another reason that the Italian school system is thought of as closed, deals with a lack of motivation to attend school. According to Renato D’Arca’s “Social, Cultural and Material Conditions of Students from developing countries in Italy,” only 19% stated that they were advised to attend university. In his piece he speaks of student’s loss of interest in becoming integrated in Italian social framework as a major issue at hand. In order for education of these immigrant groups to be moving forward, their must be a will and incentive for students to attend these schools. This statistic makes me wonder why so many students are not being advised to attend university? Is it because education is not as valued in Italy as it is in America? At least in the states, it is almost impossible to be successful without higher education. Why is this not the case in Italy?
In Italy, education for immigrants can often also be viewed as being open. Throughout the city, there are centers set up to help immigrants adapt to the Italian culture. For example, both the St. Paul Refugee Center as well as the school we visited as a class offers language classes. As a part of my service learning at the St. Paul Refugee Center, I often help teach English, Italian and computer skills to the immigrants that are a part of this center. In addition, the school we visited talked about how they offer classes in a variety of different languages mainly for immigrants. These types of centers help acclimate immigrants to the Italian culture as well as help them find a successful job. It would be greatly beneficial to open more centers such as these to help the increasing amount of immigrants in Italy acclimate into society here.
In the United States, it almost seems as if the educational system provides more open doors for immigrant students. In addition to there being no 30% rule for the classroom make up, there are also programs to help immigrant students learn the class material at a slower pace. Programs such as ESL (English as a Second Language) help teach kids at their own pace in a separate classroom. At least in my school growing up in California, these programs existed everyday and helped kids in a variety of subjects in order to help these immigrant kids stay on the same track as their American classmates. I wonder if Italy could work with these ESL programs to try and devise a way to integrate similar programs everyday in the Italian school system?
Although it may seem as if the United State’s educational system is more open compared to Italy, the US’s system can also be viewed as a system designed to close doors for many immigrants. Immigrant students are often only provided with a basic education that only allows them to fulfill the low paying jobs once they finish their schooling. They are not provided with as much flexibility as far as courses and programs to help further their education. For example, the public high school I attended, which was in a predominately white region of California, offered a range of honors, advanced placement as well as internship opportunities to help students be successful later in life. A town not to far from me was filled of predominately immigrants from Mexico and Central America. In this town, the high schools do not offer such programs to help their students get ahead. I have always wondered that if the programs that were offered at my high school were moved to the predominately immigrant high school if these immigrants would have greater opportunities as far as college and high paying jobs?
Overall, it is interesting to compare how different countries take on the issue of educating immigrants. Through comparing both Italy and the US, it becomes apparent of the vast differences there are to approaching this issue around immigrants. It would be interesting to look at the successful educational programs set up in both countries and examine a way that these can be implemented throughout the world to help immigrants. In the end though, it is good to hear that immigrants, at least in Italy, have a high rate of educational attainment. According to Renato D’Arca, 59% of the immigrant population obtains a high school diploma in Italy. It is important to continue to help these successful educational programs exist in order to make sure that the majority of the population is becoming educated.
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