In the previous two essays, I discussed what to do to get a refugee who has never finished high school into college. I hope it was useful. In this essay I discuss other kinds of refugees.
For instance, a refugee who:
2) Never finished high school but claims they did but says the documents have been lost.
3) Finished high school and the documents have been lost.
There are refugees will tell you that they have gone to high school but lost the papers and therefore cannot prove it. In some cases, this really happened. In others they are lying. Unless you are psychic, and I do not believe in psychics, you may have trouble differentiating the two. In other cases, you may begin to suspect the truth as time goes on and you get to know the person.
Regardless, my advice is as follows. Tell them they have two choices basically. Get those papers or else tell them to begin work on a GED or other means to get new educational certificates.
My limited experience has been that the ones who really went to high school will be much more willing to do this than the ones who were lying because the ones who were lying stand a good chance of being exposed when it comes out that they do not have the knowledge a high school graduate usually has. In one case, when I was younger and more naive than I am now, i.e. last year, a refugee convinced me to spend a great deal of time and effort helping him research how to get a job as a plumber while lying to me the whole time about his educational background. (The local Nepali-Burmese community is such a pain in the ass. On the other hand, other Burmese have assured me that there actually are many good Nepali-Burmese people. It's just that they don't live here.)
Therefore my opinion is that one should not spend time trying to get a refugee into college until *AFTER* you have agreed with him or her on how they are going to obtain a high school diploma or equivalent certificate and see that they are actually following through and working on this plan.
Don't put the cart before the horse.
For instance, a refugee who:
2) Never finished high school but claims they did but says the documents have been lost.
3) Finished high school and the documents have been lost.
There are refugees will tell you that they have gone to high school but lost the papers and therefore cannot prove it. In some cases, this really happened. In others they are lying. Unless you are psychic, and I do not believe in psychics, you may have trouble differentiating the two. In other cases, you may begin to suspect the truth as time goes on and you get to know the person.
Regardless, my advice is as follows. Tell them they have two choices basically. Get those papers or else tell them to begin work on a GED or other means to get new educational certificates.
My limited experience has been that the ones who really went to high school will be much more willing to do this than the ones who were lying because the ones who were lying stand a good chance of being exposed when it comes out that they do not have the knowledge a high school graduate usually has. In one case, when I was younger and more naive than I am now, i.e. last year, a refugee convinced me to spend a great deal of time and effort helping him research how to get a job as a plumber while lying to me the whole time about his educational background. (The local Nepali-Burmese community is such a pain in the ass. On the other hand, other Burmese have assured me that there actually are many good Nepali-Burmese people. It's just that they don't live here.)
Therefore my opinion is that one should not spend time trying to get a refugee into college until *AFTER* you have agreed with him or her on how they are going to obtain a high school diploma or equivalent certificate and see that they are actually following through and working on this plan.
Don't put the cart before the horse.
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