Teacher Discovers Her New 7th-Grade Student Is Almost 18 Years Old – 'How Did Admin Not Catch This?'
“He honestly looks like someone’s dad. He is over 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, bearded, and has the musculature of a young adult.”
Prostock-studio / Shutterstock.com In since-deleted post to the “Teachers” forum on Reddit, a 7th-grade teacher admitted she often struggled to align with her school district and administration when it comes to her students. “I teach grades 7 and 8 at a school with a very large refugee population,” she wrote. “It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done. There is no support whatsoever.”
Despite struggling with language barriers and unsupportive administration, one of her new students has her questioning the ethicality and safety of the entire district — “This student is basically a grown man.”
A teacher discovered her new 7th-grade student was almost 18 years old, but the school told her there was ‘nothing’ they could do.
While the absurdity of her job is often too much to handle, this recent was one of the most unsettling. She wrote, “Last week, ten days before the end of the year, I received a new student from Somalia…This student is registered in grade 7 and is reported as being 12 years old.”
Despite birth records, this teacher couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the situation. Not only did he have a full beard, tall figure, and strikingly large physique, he told another student that his birthday was much earlier than the documents indicated.
“I pair this student with another kid who speaks Somali so that they can help them settle in. This particular kid is extremely helpful and reliable,” she wrote. “While they are talking, the new student reveals that he is SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD AND WILL BE TURNING 18 SOON. WHAT. THE. [expletive].”
After another student approached her, confirming her suspicions about his age, she was forced to confront her administration for missing the mark.
Being a popular school for refugee students, it’s not uncommon for new kids to struggle with English. She explained, “These kids are put in mainstream classes despite having limited English, no formal schooling, and no literacy in their native language. It is impossible to teach well when there are so many varying needs.”
The teacher claimed the school doesn’t have the support or budget to give them “the education they deserve,” and many students fall through the cracks when it comes to getting their full education.
Of course, that’s the case for refugee students who can even make it to the classroom. Alarming studies show that many refugee families aren’t able to send their children to school — often because of institutional barriers or insufficient funding.
Those in school don't fare much better. They face difficult language barriers and lack the foundational knowledge to succeed without access to extra help. “It’s literally educational malpractice, but I digress.”
“Now, it’s not uncommon for refugees [in] Canada to not really know their specific date of birth, and they are generally assigned January 1 of the approximate year they were born. However, this new student knows his birthday,” the teacher explained. “I inform my principal of this, and all she says is, ‘Yeah, I thought he was older… but all his paperwork says he was born in 2012, so there is nothing we can really do.’”
Refugee and immigrant students with fraudulent documents often slip through the cracks.
After asking other teachers, she quickly found out this tactic of “seeming younger” and even forging personal documents is not entirely uncommon — especially in their school district.
“Families will have fraudulent documents made up and then submit them. Because he is almost 18 and has never been to school before, maybe this was their way of ensuring he gets a few years before going into the world. Had he been put in a grade 12 class, he would have had to leave school sooner.”
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Commenters explained that, sadly, this is the reality for many refugee families and their children. “Talking from my country’s experience: underage refugees have more legal protections, can’t be deported even if they are not recognized as needing asylum, and they are entitled to an education. Once they turn 18, they may be sent to their home country,” a Swiss teacher wrote.
Struggling with the failings of her school district, this teacher can’t help but feel guilty for not being able to help her student. “It’s so unfortunate, she wrote. “We are really setting these kids up to fail… we keep accepting students who will never be able to keep up. It is super unethical, in my opinion.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.