A group of immigrant
refugees is suing a central Pennsylvania school district, saying the academy
they were put in upon coming to America is not good enough.
The six refugee students range
in age from 17 to 21, and hail from Somalia, Sudan, Burma, and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, according to Fox News. The six, represented by the
Pennsylvania branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, are suing Lancaster
schools in federal court, claiming that they were being denied access to a
quality education.
Officials for the school
district say the six students were placed in the academy because it offers a
special program geared towards their needs.
“[The District] believes the
lawsuit is without merit," Superintendent Damaris Rau said in a statement. "We are
confident we are doing an excellent job supporting our refugee students who
often come to school with little or no education.”
A special "acceleration program"
at this academy was created for under-credited students, both refugee and
non-refugee, which gives them the opportunity to earn credits toward a high
school diploma by the age of 21, Rau said.
At this school, students receive
the benefits of various opportunities… including remedial services, English
classes for Second Language Learners, after school programs, and job and
computer skills instruction, as well as mentoring services, Rau added.
Immigrants used to be put on
waiting lists, stand in long lines and be expected to know and recite various
facts and minutia regarding American history in order to become citizens of the
United States. They were grateful to
be allowed to do so in an attempt to
become Americans and simply- and only- be granted a chance to make something of themselves through hard work in a
country where the government didn’t dictate the outcome of their existence.
Today a selfish, repulsive, demeaning…and
ultimately self-defeating…entitlement mentality prevails among many- if not
most- of our immigrants.
To put this in perspective, can you imagine early
American settlers, such as the much-maligned
Pilgrims and Puritans, suing Native Americans, claiming that they were
not welcoming enough, and that life was too harsh here?
One would think that refugees, by definition fleeing from
war, poverty or oppression, would be incredibly grateful for the chance to come
to a free and prosperous nation and be the recipients of free after school
programs, job and computer skills instruction, mentoring services, classroom instruction and an opportunity for a
much better life.
One would, apparently, be wrong.
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