SUMMARY
Huddled classes
How migrants fare in school, and what schools can learn from them
To determine the quality of education of each country we can apply the results of the survey made by an
internationally standardised assessment programme called PISA, which is done every three years by the
OECD. They have collected enough information about how 15-year-old immigrant pupils from Turkey,
China, former Soviet Union and ex-Yugoslavia fared in their host countries.
In general, immigrant students fare worse than locals. They are disadvantaged by their poverty, illeducated
parents and no knowledge of the local language. However there are big differences between
immigrants from the same country, depending on where they end up. One reason is grouping of pupils
known as “tracking” where students are put into ability groups and are taught separately. ...... (cohesive
device missing) Turkish immigrant children in Europe are the victims of this system. In Denmark, the
problem lies in the fact that underperforming pupils are put into worse schools.
Chinese children who emigrate to Hong Kong do very well despite their poverty and early tracking. This is
also caused by the possibility of changing track if they do better. Anyway, Chinese children are very
hardworking and the most successful ones worldwide. Many of them go to Australia. Here, thanks to a
diversified school system within schools, they outperform three-quarters of all the local children who take
the PISA test.
PISA also asks immigrant pupils about their motivation to study. This shows up that immigrant students
are more motivated than the native-born children.(cohesive device missing) Policymakers should stop
blaming immigrants for a bad country’s overall achievement. Instead, they should support them, because
they have willingness to study hard and work well.
Advanced
English Style,
Appropriacy
of
Vocabulary
Organization
and
Cohesion,
Word Count
Content
Accuracy
Grammar
Total
number of
points
5 points 0-5 points 0-5 points 0-5 points
max. 20
points
4 4 4 5 17/B
Assessment scale
Odstraněno: from
Odstraněno: s
Odstraněno: unknowingness
Odstraněno: diversification
Odstraněno: eaching them
Odstraněno: separation of poor
pupils
Odstraněno: have
Odstraněno: n
Odstraněno: of native born
Odstraněno: e
Odstraněno: attainments
A 20-19
B 18-17
C 16-15
D 14-13
E 12
F 11-0