Source : DR news
Posted by: Webmaster on 20-Jul-2010

A major study among 12,000 students of Copenhagen municipal schools concludes that bilingual children feel more insecure in school than other students. Anthropologist Laura Gilliam from the Danish School of Education thinks this may be because the bilingual children feel like second rate students. She has conducted a controversial field study among ethnic minority students at a Copenhagen municipal school.

- The ethnic minority children that I have spoken with in my field work don't feel like the school is really their place. They feel like second rate students. The Danes don't like us, they say, they think immigrants are aggressive and stupid, Laura Gilliam tells daily newspaper Politiken.

Internally, among the ethnic minority students, the tone is often quite tough. Those boys who don't do well academically, in particular, tend to find other ways of asserting themselves.

- They walk around acting tough with a sort of gangster attitude, always jostling for position, often by asserting themselves over children in lesser positions. This creates insecurity because you always have to worry over whether you are in good with the group or not, Laura Gilliam tells Politiken.