Making Americans

July 18, 2022
In this empathetic call for change, high school teacher Lander (Driving Backwards) offers concrete plans for reforming immigrant education in the U.S. Noting that almost one in four students under the age of 17 is an immigrant or the child of immigrants, Lander surveys innovative programs across the country and interviews teachers, students, and community leaders. She also delves into historical precedents, including the Americanization Movement in the late 19th century, which led to the practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and explains how WWI ignited a surge of nativism that contributed to sweeping immigration restrictions and the segregation of immigrant children in public schools. Despite such reforms as the 1974 Supreme Court ruling that public schools must provide bilingual education programs, Lander argues that more needs to be done. She identifies eight essential elements for helping immigrant students thrive, including acceptance, assurances of security, and recognition of strengths, and spotlights such successful programs as the Global Village Project, a private school in Clarkson, Ga., for female refugees from Afghanistan, Burma, Syria, and elsewhere. Throughout, Lander buttresses her case with stirring profiles of her former students. The result is an inspirational must-read for educators, policymakers, and parents.

September 1, 2022

Award-winning high school teacher Lander (Driving Backwards) has been teaching immigrant students since 2015. Her book is informed by her teaching experience and her visits to immigrant-student assistance programs across the United States. Lander identifies eight elements essential to supporting immigrant students: opportunities for new beginnings; supportive communities; assurance of security; chances to dream, committed advocates; recognition of their strengths; acceptance; and valuing their voices. Each of these gets a devoted chapter that contains three narratives--one about a historical U.S. legal dispute involving education, one about a present-day educational program designed to help immigrant students, and one about a student of the author's. Each of the chapters concludes by suggesting ways that school systems might support immigrant students. Lander is an excellent storyteller, and this book is an involving read. VERDICT A thoughtful, engaging book for any reader interested in immigrant education.--A. Gray

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2022
An educator identifies "eight elements" necessary for successfully educating immigrants in the U.S. After six years at Lowell High School (Massachusetts) teaching "more than a hundred recent immigrants and refugees" annually, Lander became curious about nationwide trends in immigrant education. Consequently, she embarked on a journey around the country visiting schools and programs widely considered innovative. In the course of this investigation, she identified eight characteristics of effective immigrant education programs, ranging from "supportive communities" to "recognition of their strengths" to "chances to dream." In distinct chapters, she examines each of these elements and includes relevant historical context, a description of a well-functioning, modern-day immigrant education program, and a life story of one of her immigrant students. "As I wrote this book, it became clear to me that the eight elements are all ways to achieve an overarching goal: instilling in newcomers a sense of belonging," she writes. "Belonging is fundamental. Young people who feel that they belong are moved to invest their talents, their energy, and their heart in enriching their new home." The author offers a nice mixture of conversational tone and intriguing research, uncovering important, untold stories in educational history. For example, she chronicles how, in the 1940s, a Mexican family filed a Supreme Court case that led to the desegregation of Mexican Americans in California schools; at the same time, they rented a farm from a Japanese family interned during World War II in an act of interracial solidarity. Despite these inspiring stories, the author rarely explicitly ties the examples back to the central theme of each section, and the connections are not always clear. Although much of Lander's research is solid, she doesn't adequately address the contributions of many important scholars--e.g., Ofelia Garc�a and Lisa Delpit--who formed the theoretical and practical frameworks that guide immigrant education today. An uneven but well-intentioned survey of immigrant education in the U.S. today.

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