``Alternative`` schools-primarily small, private institutions that focus on culture, religion or ethnicity-are increasingly acting as the bearer of a child`s identity torch.
Considering that children spend a large part of their waking hours at school, alternative schools go beyond the basics to provide a ``complete``
education. The schools are often smaller than their public counterparts, which affords a better teacher-student ratio and more intimate contact among pupils. There`s also tends to be more emphasis on teaching values.
``I believe that the school a child attends is an extension of the home, and the two need to work together,`` says Akia Williams, who has a 1st grader at New Concept Development Center, an Afrocentric school at 7526 S. Cottage Grove Ave. ``I wanted to reinforce the values that I think are important, and the school provides that, plus strong academics.`` Williams` daughter and her son, who`s now a 7th grader at another African-American-managed school, both have attended New Concept since they were 3.
At New Concept, a member of the Council of Independent Black
Institutions, a national umbrella organization for African-American schools, African-American children find an environment that focuses on the family. Each morning, they gather in a ``unity circle,`` joining hands and reciting a pledge to education and ethnic pride. Above them hangs a red, black and green flag, symbolic of African nations.
``We offer a learning, nurturing and loving environment,`` says Shalewa Crowe, director of the school. ``In developing our curriculum, we draw from the best of what we have and had as a people.``
Hebrew and arithmetic
Karen Supman, who converted to Judaism, and her husband, Mark, who is an Orthodox Jew, send their 8-year-old daughter, Jennifer, to Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, 3760 N. Pine Grove Ave., an elementary Jewish day school with 325 students. There, the Supmans` 3d-grader learns arithmetic, English and science along with Hebrew and the history of Judaism. The Supmans` 4-year-old, Jackie, also attends pre-school there.
For Jennifer, Anshe is just fun. ``I like it a lot,`` she says. ``I really like the teachers and the computers and art. It`s hard for me to pick a best part because I like all the parts.``
Some parents feel that because their children are growing up in a troublesome era-one in which drugs are more prevalant, the influence of gangs is stronger and crime in schools is increasing-there needs to be a return to a value-oriented education.
``I was brought up Catholic and I went to a Catholic school,`` says Supman. ``The thing that I liked most about it (parochial schooling) was that it gave you a sense of morals. Anshe Emet gives you a sense of what`s right and wrong.``
Parental involvement also seems to be the key to the success of many alternative schools. Since parents provide both financial emotional support, they have a larger say in their direction, curriculum and activities.
Culture 2d, education 1st
Some 18 percent of all Illinois students are enrolled in alternative schools, though Roman Catholic schools account for the bulk of these students. Other schools exist for students of French, Greek, Polish and Asian ancestry, or of Islamic background.
Yet enrollment at these schools is not limited to students who fit a certain ethnic or racial criteria, though some are homogenous.
According to Daniel Kahn, principal of Anshe Emet, nearly 10 percent of his students come from non-Jewish families and include Hispanics, Asians and African-Americans. And at Chicago International School, 1640 W. Foster Ave., where classes are taught in French and English, half of the students are American and half are French (who are in the U.S. for a short time).
Finding schools where there is a broad mix of students is a result of parents` search for a good education, no matter the environment, educators and parents say.
``We are getting parents who are not as involved in their culture,`` says Crowe of New Concept. ``Our parents used to be very into the (African-American) culture-it was culture first and education second. Now it`s education first, but parents are glad children are getting the culture, too.`` At Muhammad University of Islam, a school of Islamic studies at 7351 S. Stony Island Ave., 40 percent of the students are from non-Muslim families, according to Sister Shelby, the school`s director.
``During our interview with the parents, we find their main motivation to send their children here is the discipline taught here,`` says Shelby.
``Parents who are Baptist or Methodist send their children to parochial schools; they are willing to do the same thing here.``
A shrinking world
