by Deirdre Dlugoleski:
As the train pulled up to the platform, I saw three minarets from the window– a far cry from the Holland I knew, with its church spires breaking the skyline over the canals. My classmates and I had arrived at the Bijlmermeer, an immigrant neighborhood in Amsterdam Zuidoost, to visit a school there and talk to its students, all of whom came from immigrant families and a large majority of whom were Muslim.
In the Netherlands, immigrant schools like these are disparagingly referred to as “black schools.” Situated in poor minority neighborhoods, these underfunded schools often perform below national standards. Many parents, concerned with the quality of the local school and widespread discrimination and seeking a religious education for their children, opt for private Muslim schools to either supplement their child’s education or to replace the local public school entirely.
In the EU, member states follow their own policies for integrating their schools. Some fear that Islamic schools are centers for indoctrinating animosity towards the West – but a closer look reveals that the state itself has a much more powerful role in determining that. In Germany, Islam does not have official recognition as a religious community. German Muslim communities cannot access state funding for schools. Instead, religious movements, often from Turkey, fund and run these institutions. Many of these groups, such as Milli Gorus or the Suleymanci Movement, take an unfavorable stance on the Western way of life.
Unlike Germany, however, the Dutch simply treat all religions equally, no registration required. As a result, the Islamic schools are actually a part of the Dutch education system, rather than the sporadic result of foreign movements. The Dutch method allows immigrant students and families to participate in the system while maintaining their own identity. Furthermore, because they adhere to the same standards as other Dutch schools (like proficiency of language) and must cover the same curriculum, students leave these schools with the academic skills necessary for upward mobility.
It would be naïve to claim that this policy prevents violence – the Netherlands, like Germany and France, has seen its share of intercommunal violence. But Holland is also home to some Islamic schools like Het Niewe Westen (The New West) in Rotterdam, a completely immigrant school that consistently claims one of the highest average scores on the national CITO test for Rotterdam, and whose principal hopes that the quality and openness of his school will someday attract native Dutch students. German Chancellor Angela Merkel sees a connection between safety, integration, and education, maintaining that “violence among young people is often a sign that they see no perspective for themselves. All that helps is education, education, education.” Whether she is right remains to be seen.
Examining the trip to the Bijlmermeer years before her remark, Merkel’s comment seems well-placed. When we asked them about their nationalities, the Bijlmermeer students answered that they were from Surinam, Turkey, Morocco – but only after they had been pressed for an answer, sometimes several times. With bemused stares and confused glances at each other, they repeated, again and again, that they were Dutch.