ROMA: I
am not comfortable at all with the information provided on the
education of Roma children. How do the Roma educate their children?
What do their parents, their community, their culture, want the Roma
children to learn? The information given leaves the impression
that someone else is responsible for the children, and that someone
else is responsible for educating the children. It verges on feeling
patronizing and condescending. Education by the state is often used
as a way to force assimilation, acculturation. When the state becomes
involved in education systems, it is assumed that the parents
contribute to the curriculum and towards the costs (taxes, etc.)
Is
education a human right? Whose responsibility is it? The parents, the
community, or the state? Or others? If the child's culture is in
conflict with state school attendance, what gives? When the child's
education surpasses the parents, rifts can develop within the family.
The parents have difficulty helping the children with their
schooling, and the children feel pressured to choose between
schooling and family/community. So, although I accept your premise
that there is discrimination against and persecution of Roma in
places in Europe, I am not convinced that suitable action options are
offered here, nor that outsiders are the ones who should be deciding what
should be done about this issue. What do the Roma want?
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