In Search of Equity for Arab-American Students in Public Schools of the United States

Equity in excellence for all students is one of the major challenges confronting our educational system. The demands for focusing and directing efforts to raise the educational levels of the increasingly culturally diverse population have become one of the major issues in the educational reform movement. Arab-American students are among the new ethnic groups comprising the student population in the United States, however, they have been less visible as a minority. The Gulf War and its political fallouts made them more visible but in a negative way. Although the Arab culture and heritage are deeply rooted in early civilizations, misinformation and lack of information about their culture and heritage play a significant role in the formation of American perception and understanding of Arab-American students. Placed in the mainstream of classrooms, they are confronted by preconceived prejudices and biases about the Arab people created and nurtured by Hollywood movies (e.g., Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, Delta Force One, and the Siege), jokes, cartoons, textbooks, and most recently video games. Research shows that a significant factor in students' academic achievement and social adjustment is the way they perceive themselves, their abilities, and their self-worth (Hamachek, 1995; Hansford & Hattie, 1982; Marsh, 1990). Research left no doubt that students' self-perception is influenced by the way others perceive them. Teachers perception of their students play a major role in the way they interact with their students, form their expectations of them, and construct and plan their instructional strategies (Woolfolk, 1998). Therefore, it is imperative that teachers in general and those teaching minority children in particular obtain knowledge about the background of their students. Teachers should develop the understanding of their students feelings and behavior, and acquire the skills to provide the scaffolding necessary for creating a safe environment conducive to quality learning. The purpose of this study was to look at and discuss a self-perception profile of Arab-American youth in the mainstream of the public schools. Some background information about Arab-American students will be included. Arab American Students: A Background Arab Americans are among the minorities who emigrated to the United States in search of the dream of freedom, tranquility, and good fortune. They differ from other minorities in several ways. First, they come not from one country but from 22 different countries in south west Asia and northern Africa. The terrain of these countries ranges from deserts to rugged mountains. Secondly, they are of different religious faiths. They are Christians of different denominations, Muslims of different sects, and Jews of different levels of expression of faith. These differences contribute to the diversity among themselves and play a significant role in the degree of their adaptation to the mainstream culture. Another difference is their language. Although they all speak Arabic, they have to be dilingual due to the diglossic situation in Arabic. The sharp variations in the informal language spoken in different Arabic countries make it necessary to use both forms of the language, formal (classical Arabic) and informal. Arabic language is a source of pride for the Arab people and to the Muslim Arabs it has an added prestige. They believe that Arabic was the chosen language that God selected to reveal the message of Islam and the Holy Quran to Prophet Muhammad. There are more than 200 million Arabs who speak the language, and about one billion Muslims throughout the world use Arabic in their prayers and other religious functions and rituals. Furthermore, Arab-Americans come from a multicultural world where their countries encompass multi ethnic, multi racial, multi linguistics, and multi religious groups. These groups include Arminians, Assyrians, Barbers, Blacks, Copts, Druze, Kaldeans, Kurds, Persians, Turkoman, and many others. …