WE ALL SHARE A DIVERSENESS . . .

Editor's note: The following letter was written by a high school teacher who works with many immigrant students each year.

When people ask me, "What exactly do you do?" I sometimes am confused how to reply. By trade, Im a teacher, meaning that I spend countless hours in front of a class of fresh high school faces. Yet what I teach (English) seems much less important than the students who sit before me.

You see, my students are unique and yet all part of this marvelous world of diverse cultures and languages. From Vietnam, China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Jordan, India, Bosnia, the United States, Algeria, Iran, Bolivia, Cuba and Mexico, they are an integral and beautiful part of Spokane, and every day I am very aware of the gifts that they have given me. I learn more from these individuals than any class I could ever take. These kids teach me how to think and appreciate life in all its rich dimensions. They inspire in me to make a difference in the world. They are, you could definitely say, my teachers.

These students have emerged as heroes in my eyes by virtue of their dreams and the nature of their struggle. They leave their first lives in countries behind, coming across oceans and over borders, often without choice, following the steps of their parents and relatives. Often, they serve as interpreters and translators during medical appointments and in immigration offices. Sometimes a part- time job for them is less of a way to make extra cash for clothes and wheels, and more of a way to help provide for the basic needs of their own family.

How could I, a teacher, even profess to be able to teach them about life, when theirs have been so impacted by war, migration, mainstream education and social adjustment? Indeed, I am humbled in their presence. I cannot begin to understand the sorrow and deep- rooted memories that many of my students carry with them.

Now such humility does not mean that I am so awestruck by them that I do not hold them to high expectations, academically and socio- culturally. On the contrary, it is my genuine vision that all students embrace their own cultures and languages with dignity and their new lives with enthusiasm.

However, my vision is frequently challenged by the obstacles that the students and their families experience. Discrimination, harassment and "go back to your own country" are still complex and frustrating parts of the puzzle for many of these students. Although they are excellent assets to the community, assumptions about cultural groups often prevent them from attaining their goals and dreams. I know that not all comments are meant to hurt and offend these kids. But they do.

Even though it may seem near impossible for us to understand their plight, why don't we remind ourselves that we are all products of diverse backgrounds? Irish, African, German, Asian, Italian, Norwegian, Eastern European Americans. We all have family that can recall their first experiences with the American dream.

We are more alike than different. No one is un-American.

Here is a golden opportunity. Learn a lesson in real American history: allow new immigrants to remind you of how precious freedom is and how the fight to find freedom is a novel and heroic endeavor.

Copyright 1999 Cowles Publishing Company
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.