{"id":3403,"date":"2020-10-19T09:14:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T13:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/matheducation\/?p=3403"},"modified":"2020-10-19T12:57:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T16:57:35","slug":"math-on-the-border-working-with-unaccompanied-migrant-children-in-federal-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/matheducation\/2020\/10\/19\/math-on-the-border-working-with-unaccompanied-migrant-children-in-federal-custody\/","title":{"rendered":"MATH ON THE BORDER: Working with unaccompanied migrant children in Federal custody"},"content":{"rendered":"

The events recounted here happened in January 2020. The program described has been suspended during the COVID crisis.\u00a0 Perhaps there will be no need for it when the crisis is over.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Nadia looked at me with big brown eyes and asked a question.\u00a0 My Spanish is minimal, so I called over a coworker, one of the caregivers at her shelter.\u00a0 She was working with tangrams (a geometric puzzle), and was asking whether she could turn a particular piece sideways to form a certain shape.\u00a0 This was not how the question was translated, and probably not how it was posed.\u00a0 But I understood it, despite the dual barriers of language and formality.<\/p>\n

Nadia is a migrant child who has been separated from her parents and is under Federal custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).\u00a0 She may have come without authorization with a \u201ccoyote\u201d, or been left with a relative and picked up in a raid, or just walked over the border herself.\u00a0 I do not know how she got here.\u00a0 But her bright eyes and her engagement with geometry tell me all I need to know.\u00a0 Her mind is alive, and I want to keep it that way.\u00a0 Like most of these children, she is resilient and resourceful.\u00a0 And like most of these children, highly motivated.\u00a0 These are immigrants, and immigration is a filter.\u00a0 Only the most energetic and future-minded are likely to pass through.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I am working today with three other facilitators at Catholic Charities of New York.\u00a0 Twice a week, from 11 AM to 2 PM, two or three of us meet with Dr. Usha Kotelawala, the director of this program (Math on the Border) for the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival.\u00a0 They meet at the office of Catholic Charities, in lower Manhattan.\u00a0 The children are there to meet with a lawyer (typically for 20-25 minutes) to prepare for a court date that will determine their fate as immigrants.\u00a0 But they must wait around for hours before it is their turn.\u00a0 During that time, we engage them with mathematical puzzles, games, and activities.<\/p>\n

The children love it.\u00a0 Their eyes light up.\u00a0 They intrigue each other.\u00a0 Language and social barriers tumble.\u00a0 And their minds are active.\u00a0 The work is similar to leaving food and water in the desert for thirsty immigrants.\u00a0 We are not offering them a complete diet or significant sustenance.\u00a0 But we are keeping their minds alive until their situation stabilizes.<\/p>\n

We have been working with this population since November 2018, for six hours each week.\u00a0 To date we have had 216 hours of contact with more than 1000 of these children.\u00a0 We never know how many children will be in attendance.\u00a0 There can be as few as five, or as many as 25.\u00a0 The average size of a group is 15, and we have three facilitators, again on average, to work with them.<\/p>\n

The teaching requires skill, but is not difficult.\u00a0 The children engage readily, and work with each other on the activities.\u00a0 If it is a game, they will challenge each other and arrange impromptu \u201ctournaments\u201d.\u00a0 If it is a puzzle, they will work together towards a solution.\u00a0 The children can be as young as 5 years old, and as old as 17.\u00a0 (At age 18 they \u201cage out\u201d of this program and are treated as adults.)\u00a0 In one case, a teenage girl brought her infant daughter to the session\u2014and participated while attending to the baby.<\/p>\n

Nadia, for example, has come with two younger siblings\u2014or maybe cousins\u2014and the three of them work on the tangrams puzzle.\u00a0 Nadia, as the oldest, takes the lead.\u00a0 Her two companions are excited to work with their older sibling on this \u201cadvanced\u201d puzzle.\u00a0 A group across the table gets interested in the brightly colored plastic pieces and wants to know what the game is about.\u00a0 Soon they too are working with a set of tangrams.<\/p>\n

I am part of a pool of about 20 facilitators. \u00a0Since the children only see us once, it is a different group every week.\u00a0 Hence facilitators need not commit a large part of their schedule to the program.\u00a0 Most of them are retired teachers or STEM professionals.\u00a0 They typically know how to relate to the children, and understand the mathematics and its value.\u00a0 A minimum of on-the-job training is typically all that they require, and Dr. Kotelawala supervises that process.\u00a0 We usually achieve a ratio of 1 instructor to 6 or 7 students, which is perfect for this informal situation.<\/p>\n

The backgrounds of the instructors reflect the demographics of the group of retirees from which they are drawn.\u00a0 Some of them have been mathematics specialists\u2014we could not buy better expertise.\u00a0 Others have a particular interest in Latin America.\u00a0 One of them is starting a school in Nicaragua. \u00a0Another grew up in Venezuela, the child of American engineers working there, and speaks colloquial Spanish as well as his native English.<\/p>\n

Another valuable group of facilitators is college or graduate students.\u00a0 We get them whenever we can, and they are some of the most effective instructors.\u00a0 They typically speak Spanish: many of our connections are with Hispanic student groups.\u00a0 They have often had experiences similar to those of the children, and can offer themselves as role models, however brief the encounter.\u00a0 And they know the mathematics.\u00a0 Unfortunately, our program runs from 11 AM to 2 PM on weekdays, so these students are not regularly available, except during vacations or exam days.<\/p>\n

The activities do not require any particular background of the children. \u00a0They have been intensively field-tested.\u00a0 These are low-threshold, high-ceiling problems that can be worked by anyone with an interest. \u00a0And these students are interested.\u00a0 They show the typical immigrant enthusiasm for learning. They engage readily and joyously in the activities.\u00a0 Their faces shine.<\/p>\n

About two hours into our work, Nadia had to leave.\u00a0 It was her turn to have a legal consult.\u00a0 She took her two younger charges, said goodbye, and went off to see the lawyers.\u00a0 When she returned, she was not so happy.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know quite what the lawyer said, but it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Typically, the students are pensive and serious after their brush with legal reality.\u00a0 It takes them some time to re-integrate into the group and engage in mathematics.\u00a0 For them, time spent with us is a respite from concerns about the future.\u00a0 For us, it is a rewarding and uplifting experience.<\/p>\n

EPILOGUE<\/p>\n

In March, 2020 the COVID emergency precluded our meeting these children.\u00a0 Children are still being held without their parents by ORR, although fewer have been crossing the border.\u00a0 Perhaps by the time the COVID plague lifts, such children will be reunited with their families quickly, and we will not have need for a Math on the Border program.<\/p>\n

(Math on the Border was partially supported by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The events recounted here happened in January 2020. The program described has been suspended during the COVID crisis.\u00a0 Perhaps there will be no need for it when the crisis is over.\u00a0 Nadia looked at me with big brown eyes and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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