Soviet Jewish students in junior and senior high schools are misunderstood, ridiculed, disliked and made to feel unwelcome by their Canadian peers, according to a case study on the subject. The study, “Adaptation A Case Study of Soviet Jewish Immigrant Children in Toronto, 1970-1978,” written by Roberla Lander Markus, also states that according to their teachers, Soviet Jewish students often display violent behavior and uncooperative attitudes toward learning.
Mrs. Markus’ 73-page study was sponsored by the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) of Canada Central Region. The Ontario Ministry of Culture and Recreation co-funded her project while the Secretary of State, which is a federal agency In Ottawa, assisted in its publication.
According to Mrs. Markus, who is fluent in Russian, “a number of Soviet children were having emotional, behavioral and learning problems, and in several cases Soviet students were unable to cope with the accumulated pressures of leaving their country, remaining In stateless transition for up to a year or more and trying to establish themselves in a culture alien to their way of thinking.”
Teachers reports indicate that the frustration exhibited by the students “were often manifested through extended absenteeism, violent behavior, generally uncooperative attitudes toward learning, hostile and aggressive relations with others, and other types of anti-social and destructive behavior.”
Mrs. Markus spent two years on the study visiting 10 different schools — both those within the public system and those under the Board of Jewish Education. A linguist and political scientist, she interviewed about 100 of the approximately 200 Soviet Jewish students who attend Toronto Junior and senior high schools, as well as parents and teachers.
She found that Russians are ill-prepared to deal with the Canadian educational system which is not based on rote learning as appears to be the case in the Soviet Union Relatively few have Canadian friends and they feel unwelcome, unimportant and unwonted, Mrs. Markus noted In the view of Canadians they are “Ruskies, cliquish unfriendly, rude, violent and smelly. Some Canadians just said ‘I just dislike them’ without giving any reasons.”
The Jewish students who were interviewed did not identify themselves as Jews but as Russians. Israeli students at the school are accepted because they are Western, and people have positive feelings about Israel, Mrs. Markus reported.
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