I have a good friend and a former co-worker who is originally from another country. He had his teaching degree from his home country and was a teacher there. Due to political unrest he and his family were forced to flee their home and come to America. Even though he had his teaching degree from his home country, he did not qualify to teach in America.
He had to rebuild his life from near to nothing. It took many years to rise up from his oppression. He began by opening a licensed family day care with his wife. From there, he and his wife became famous in their new community for the high quality of care they offered children and families. They always had a waiting list. The local CCR&R (Child Care Resource and Referral) invited him to teach a child care course. He was an awesome instructor. Every course he taught was always filled to the room’s capacity with providers who were eager to learn from someone who was successful at working with children and who was also one of their own (a child care provider). It took him several years to receive his Bachelor’s degree from an American university and he is currently working on his Master’s degree. My own assessment of him is that he is intelligent, kind, brave, generous, passionate about helping children, desires to lift people to a higher level and forthright in all of his dealings.
The inequity in this situation is that he should have been able to teach from the moment he sat foot upon American soil. His degree should have been recognized as being credible. Also, the local CCR&R took far longer than they should have before recruiting him to teach. Such situations make me feel frustrated, angry, and at times hopeless. I hate prejudices and oppressions as they keep those who have such potential down trodden.
What has to change? The traditional thoughts that many adhere to that create prejudices, stereotypical biases, and desire to keep people down who are seen as less than. As a human race, we must place a much greater value on life and find it in our hearts to respect those whose journey has been on roads less traveled.
As the individual who saw great things in his persona and thus recruited him to teach, I knew that he belonged in a sphere far beyond where he was. Because he was willing to transcend all the prejudices and oppressing situations that surrounded him, he is a far better person than I will ever be. I am glad that we became friends and that he felt comfortable enough to share his life story with me.
3 comments:
Sally,
Your friend did experience bias, stereotyping and other prejustice toward him. I'm glad that he went on to pursue his passion in teaching. He surely has a testemony to tell, and I believe the classroom is only the beginning. Good luck to him and his family, and also to you.
Hey Sally,
Its good that your friend overcame oppression and became sucessful in America. The experiences that he endured during this journey only made him a stronger person.
Have patience my friend. I would not expect to be able to teach right away if I went to another country.
Nevertheless, I think that he played his cards quite well, building credibility and a solid reputation in ways that paved the way for future good things.
Imagine the privilege that I would assume if I went to Mexico for instance and expected to be able to teach right away (I have taught both elementary and early education here in California.
I would like to learn more about your friend, as I am an advocate for men in ECE. I hope that your friend might visit www.menteach.org or our men in child care facebook group!
Post a Comment