Jamaican Children Struggling in the US

An article appeared today in the Washington Post describing the struggles that Jamaican children have when migrating to the US.

I left Jamaica to live in the US when I was 18, after completing my A' Levels. I arrived a few days before classes started at Cornell and ran into West Indians who had left home to live in the U.S. In come cases, they had been in the high school system for only a year.

All I can say is that those of us who graduated high school in Jamaica were very different. It wasn't until later that I came to understand a little about attending high school in the US, and how difficult it was for those who had to ensure that rite of passage.

The article can be found by clicking here: Far from their island, Jamaican children struggle new expectations. The most telling line in the article comes at the end:

"Ferguson said more programs are needed to help Jamaican migrant children adjust to the U.S. school system, including the possibility of post- and pre-migration counseling."

Wow -- exactly what I have been thinking, and saying, when I give my two cents' worth of advice to Jamaicans here who are thinking about migrating. I haven't yet met a family that appreciates the challenge... most seem to see migration as a way to release the frustration that they feel at everyday life in Jamaica.