Is Trauma Inherited? The Case of a failing (Somali) school in Minnesota

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PBS documentary about mental health, trauma and education of Somali children in Minnesota.

https://www.pbs.org/video/whole-people-105-healing-journeys-idwg7g/

How one Minnesota school, beloved by refugee families, has turned itself around while keeping its teachers, students and culture.

What do you do with a school that is beloved by its families but is failing them academically? That is the heart of a community but isn’t teaching its children to read well enough to go to college, get jobs and give back?

you shut the school down, you inflict a gaping wound on those families. If you don’t, you condemn the next generation to the same fate as the last.

Dugsi Academy, located in St. Paul, is one such school. The families of its 300 elementary and middle school students are all refugees displaced by the decades-long war in their native Somalia. When they first enroll, many have never been to a school or had a formal lesson.

Some were born here and some have been here for mere weeks. Many made the trip from refugee camps where food and other resources are scarce and the future uncertain. The majority arrive at the school speaking little to no English.

Families seeking permanent homes come and go midyear. All struggle to adjust to a new country where their religion, Islam, is often demonized.



Somali culture exalts education; indeed, the Somali word for school, dugsi, means a place where children are educated, sheltered and nurtured by teachers who play a parental role. To its community, Dugsi Academy lived up to this definition.

Academically, however, 11 years after it opened in 2005, Dugsi Academy was one of the lowest-performing schools in the state. In 2016, just 7 percent of students passed state reading tests and fewer than 6 percent passed math. Still, abysmal as those numbers were, they didn’t mean much to Dugsi’s families, many of whom didn’t understand that children this far behind wouldn’t succeed in high school and beyond.

As a public charter school, Dugsi is accountable to its authorizer, which grants it permission to operate and is responsible for ensuring that it meets performance goals. After the 2016 test scores came in, the school’s nonprofit authorizer, Pillsbury United Communities, staged an intervention.

The school had 12 months to turn itself around, or Pillsbury would revoke its permission to operate. And there was one condition: Dugsi’s board of directors had to accept outside help.


Read more how they are trying to turn around this school.

https://www.minnpost.com/other-nonp...le-keeping-its-teachers-students-and-culture/
 
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SomaliSteel

No dictator can imprison a population forever.
1. Parents dont speak English and cant teach their kids so they are already behind from the beginning
2. Homes are overcrowded, hard to study
3. Parents dont have the money or sense to put their kid in tutoring
4. Most attend overcrowded, underfunded schools
5. Kids who come here older dont speak the language or have not attended school for years

They should set up free or subsidised tutoring from elementary school.
 
1. Parents dont speak English and cant teach their kids so they are already behind from the beginning.

Most of the parents of these students now are young Americans who were born in refugee camps but raised in America who spoke good English like the parent they interviewed.

2. Homes are overcrowded, hard to study.

A better solution, have fewer children that you can educate properly. Quality and not quantity.

3. Parents dont have the money or sense to put their kid in tutoring. .

How much is spent on weddings? Again, have less children.

4. Most attend overcrowded, underfunded schools..

Move to non ghetto areas. Don't rush to starting a family that you can't cater to.


5. Kids who come here older dont speak the language or have not attended school for years.

Again, the overwhelming majority of the primary school students who are struggling with basic literacy and numeracy were born in America.

They should set up free or subsidised tutoring from elementary school.

Most Somali parents would prefer their kids to go to Koran schools.

@Puffin Stuff

Watch the rest of the documentary, it is all 26 minutes.
 

Puffin Stuff

Cheating death in berbera
Most of the parents of these students now are young Americans who were born in refugee camps but raised in America who spoke good English like the parent they interviewed.



A better solution, have fewer children that you can educate properly. Quality and not quantity.



How much is spent on weddings? Again, have less children.



Move to non ghetto areas. Don't rush to starting a family that you can't cater to.




Again, the overwhelming majority of the primary school students who are struggling with basic literacy and numeracy were born in America.



Most Somali parents would prefer their kids to go to Koran schools.

@Puffin Stuff

Watch the rest of the documentary, it is all 26 minutes.
Is Quran school really better than public school?
I myself went to a public primary school
with Quran on the Side and Grammar school for secondary.
My Quran classes weren’t taught by Pakis thank god I had a Somali teacher really strict but a good teacher.
What I liked about Quran school easy to follow schedule and specialized lessons
 
Is Quran school really better than public school?
I myself went to a public primary school
with Quran on the Side and Grammar school for secondary.
My Quran classes weren’t taught by Pakis thank god I had a Somali teacher really strict but a good teacher.
What I liked about Quran school easy to follow schedule and specialized lessons

@Puffin Stuff

Sxb, the answer was in relation to a statement made by the general and your situation differs from theirs, therefore, context is the key here.
 
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