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The “Russian as a Second Language” program currently extends to only two schools - PS 200 Benson School and IS 228 David A. Boody, in which children from Russian-speaking families study the language from kindergarten to 8th grade.

The system is quite harsh - one day of teaching in English, the second in Russian, and no translation. This technique has been used in the United States for more than 30 years: in the early 70s, a Chinese emigrant successfully sued the San Francisco school district, citing the fact that students from Chinese families did not receive special help due to their lack of knowledge of English.

The petitioner very successfully appealed then to the Civil Rights Act in terms of prohibitions of educational discrimination on the basis of ethnicity: she created a precedent, thanks to which bilingual education in the USA began. Due to this, in any school children who do not speak English, are required to provide the opportunity to learn in their native language.

Maria Kot, an American mother of Russian origin, entered into an open conflict with the mayor's office of New York, emerged victorious and even received an award for it. By the way, from that very mayor’s office - for his enormous contribution to the development of the city of New York.

Maria’s daughter went to a preparatory group, and in order to preserve her daughter’s Russian, the woman persuaded almost a hundred parents to sign a petition in support of the Russian as a second language program.

After collecting signatures, they sent a petition to the education department of the New York City Hall and various public organizations dealing with the rights of immigrants. Great success Maria considers cooperation with the non-profit organization Advocates for Children of New York, which offered her legal assistance.

It was the most difficult thing to convince the parents - many of them, especially representatives of the Arab and Italian diasporas, were told that the Russians wanted to take away their funds for their children and were seeking a privileged position at school. The result is ethnic strife, hatred and aggression.

Maria had the right to demand that her daughter be taught in Russian - according to the law, there were no more than 15 children at school such as first-graders (the norm established by law). The woman continued to go to meetings with parents and the director, and contacted the education department, but to no avail.

“Russian-speaking children began to have their grades lowered, publicly humiliated, and teachers changed,” says Maria. Her daughter hated school and refused to go to it. One day, the activist couldn’t stand it: she burst into the director’s office with a sobbing child in her arms and said: “You brought her down, you should calm her down.”

After that, the woman hired a lawyer and began to collect documents to go to the Supreme Court.

“The local education department learned about the impending lawsuit and quickly realized that they would lose the case and would be forced to introduce similar programs in every school,” says Kot. She was called in for negotiations: the school director resisted, the education department insisted - and in the end the Russians got their own class. The program for children was developed by a teacher originally from Ukraine, who taught Russian language and literature there.

Meanwhile, Russians at school continued to be looked at askance, and then Maria Kot went on an experiment. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's first flight into space, Russian cosmonauts came to New York. Maria ensured that American astronaut Marsha Ivin and Russian Maxim Suraev spoke to schoolchildren - and then the ice broke.

Maria thought about the future: her daughter had a high school ahead, where language preservation is especially important.

“I want her to be “my” child, so that we have a connection, and for this we need to pass on to her what is passed down from generation to generation: fairy tales, poems, family stories, which are also connected with the Russian language and culture. I want my child to speak the language that my grandparents spoke. And I also believe that an inextricable connection with previous generations is necessary for the full development of the individual. Russian is the fourth most frequently spoken language in New York. Knowledge of the language means additional career opportunities,” says Maria.

In high school, the promotion of a bilingual program did not cause resistance - the school had low ratings, and they did not want to send children to it. The new director, Dominic D'Angelo, understood that this was his chance to “stretch” the school, although at first there would be few people willing to enroll in it.

The Russian class was opened for 5 children - this was the director’s condition. The next year there were already 15 people.

Maria Kot arranged a meeting for schoolchildren with violinist Mikhail Kazinnik, gave an interview to the largest Russian-language media in the United States, and things went well - the school’s rating rose, and no less than 400 people applied for the Russian class for the third academic year.

During this time, Maria’s daughter managed to graduate from high school and is now moving to the senior school - Edward Murrow High School, which has Russian language classes, and there will no longer be a need for conflict. However, the girl’s mother is not going to stop - she has seriously taken up the possibility of learning Russian in a bilingual program until the 12th and last grade of school.

По материалам сайта "Our Texas"

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