Changing Education

The ribbon cutting for St. Thomas Montessori School in West Bloomfield last December.

Chaldeans have changed how Michigan learns

By Cal Abbo

Chaldeans have lived and learned in Michigan for over 100 years. During that time, they have brought with them and transmitted their culture and traditions, including how knowledge is passed down and inherited.

The defining characteristics of Chaldeans as it relates to education are family and community. Much of what one learns, contrary to the popular culture and system, is borne out of an informal education within the household or workplace. This understanding helps to frame the system through which new and ancient knowledge is conveyed. The most important consideration, however, is the speed with which these systems are changing and how Chaldeans have integrated into a traditional public/private school system.

In Chaldean culture, men and women play vastly different roles within the family unit, which affects how knowledge is shared with them. Men and women tend to congregate with one another and learn from members of the same group, which perpetuates and accentuates gender roles and differences.

In ancient Chaldean society, for example, young women learned from their elders how to run a household or raise children. They also learned crafts and technical skills as it relates to cooking food or making clothes. Men, on the other hand, often shadowed their father’s work or took an apprenticeship with another family member. There, they learned the ins and outs of productive work that could earn some money and support the family.

This system shows vast differences from the American one that we are used to. Most importantly, there is little barrier to entry. One only has to be a part of a family or the community, and they are rewarded with access to knowledge, rather than buying it through tuition or offering their time in unpaid internships. This educational practice was crucial to the first Chaldeans who arrived in Michigan and the generations since.

A traditional education in the United States relies on public or private schooling that keeps even our smallest children as busy as a full-time job would. This process, however, offers only a small portion of the knowledge a teenager has when receiving their diploma. Learning occurs in all parts of our lives and throughout the day, not just during the time we spend in traditional school; and even then, we learn from our peers just as much as our teachers.

While the very first Chaldeans came to Detroit for jobs in the auto industry, they quickly opened stalls at farmers markets and eventually full-blown grocery stores. By sharing knowledge and educating one another in this business, Chaldeans were able to replicate this model many times over and achieve community success. Fathers passed on their hard-earned knowledge to their sons, who took over and innovated the family store.

At the same time, women passed around their traditions to one another and their daughters. As they adjusted to life in Michigan, Chaldean women took up various professions and duties and taught each other new strategies for going about life. They relied on one another to raise children and feed their families and recreate life that resembles the village, at least as close as they could in the great urban Detroit of the early 1900s, while their husbands and brothers earned a wage.

As soon as the first Chaldean stepped foot in Detroit, however, the slow advance of assimilation began. The traditional roles played by men and women began to fade and merge, as did the memories of life in Iraq. The cultural identity of Chaldeans blended with that of other American immigrants and Americans in general; no longer were they endangered indigenous people, but a flourishing immigrant community that grew in power and wealth with each passing year. As such, Chaldeans began to enter the professions via colleges and universities. While these aspects of society were not entirely foreign to the community, as they had similar institutions in Iraq, they were previously reserved for wealthy and noble members of society.

The all-important church, which was the center of village life, was transplanted to Michigan, but not without change. For the earliest Chaldeans, the institution maintained its lofty importance. In Iraq, the church served as a gathering place and pillar of the community. This is where children learned the customs of the community, how to act among their peers and elders, as well as how to participate in its traditions and religious beliefs through structured educational courses. In its early days in America, the church was essential and served a similar role, but its importance has since faded and its role in education has become similar to other Catholic churches in America.

As a result, to reestablish their cultural influence and rectify imperfections in Michigan’s educational system, the Chaldean Church has begun to establish its own parallel educational system. Since the advent of COVID-19 and the subsequent pandemic, homeschooling and other non-traditional learning options became popular after public schools ceased in-person instruction. In January of this year, the Chaldean Church opened its very own Montessori school, which is open to children up to 6 years old.

The Montessori method, named after Italian physician Maria Montessori, emphasizes each child’s individual and natural desire for knowledge. It uses an open style of learning rather than structured instruction and assignments, encouraging its students to engage in activities that interest them. The Montessori method as used in the St. Thomas school encourages empathy, social justice, and lifelong learning, according to a January article in the Chaldean News. “By God’s grace and with the community’s support, we hope to offer Pre-K thru 8th grade Chaldean Catholic education very soon,” said Fr. Pierre Konja in the same article.

In our own right, Chaldeans have had a profound mark on Michigan’s education system. Members of our community have become teachers and administrators, and some have started their own educational ventures to add to Michigan’s trove of schooling.

The Chaldean community in Detroit, following similar diaspora communities in the United States, has made attempts to incorporate its native language directly into the public or private school system. In Oakland County Schools, where many Chaldean students attend, a Sureth language exam is being introduced. If a student passes the exam, they can get high-school credit for knowing a second language, making it easier for recently migrated Chaldean students to succeed in graduating.

At the University of Detroit Mercy, there is a full-blown Aramaic course that students can take for credit. Mahir Awrahem, a teacher who is active in the movement to restore and revive the dying language, instructs this official college course as well as other, unofficial courses, including some hosted by the Chaldean Cultural Center.

St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church also holds its own classes to teach Sureth to those in Detroit who were not taught at home. Shamasha Khairy Foumia and Lina Yaldo developed a curriculum intended for younger children, but it can also be used as an introductory course for people of all ages who want to learn the language, according to Michael Antoon, who helps lead the program at St. Thomas.

Chaldeans have contributed as much to the traditional education infrastructure as they have to a parallel one they created. Many Chaldean teachers are employed by public and private schools in our community. In many of these schools, Chaldeans dominate the student population and have a heavy influence on their school’s culture.

Around the state of Michigan, universities, high schools, and even middle schools have loosely affiliated Chaldean American Student Association groups, better recognized by its acronym CASA.

Crystal Jabiro is an educator at West Bloomfield Schools. She tries to incorporate what she sees as Chaldean values, such as charity, kindness, and empathy, in the school. In addition, Crystal started the first-ever CASA for middle school, bringing Chaldean culture to a variety of students at a younger age.

In her U.S. history classes, where it’s relevant, Crystal teaches about immigration and acculturation. “I point out all the things that Chaldean people own here in West Bloomfield and metro Detroit,” she said. In her ancient history class, she teaches about Mesopotamia and has her students make their very own clay tablets.

At Marian High School, a top private school for young women in and around Bloomfield Hills, the group has a significant influence on the rest of its school. Teachers and faculty estimate that Chaldeans comprise 30% of the student population.

Some of CASA’s leaders from last school year with Claudine Denha Tella.

Claudine Denha Tella, who has taught at Marian for more than 15 years and leads the CASA group, offered her insights into the Chaldean influence at the school. According to her, Chaldeans bring a lot of culture and life to the school.

Since she began her work there, the number of Chaldean students rose gradually from a few students in her first year to where it is now. A lot of the change is attributed to Chaldean enrollment in feeder schools as well as the congregation factor – where Chaldeans are, others tend to follow.

The students and Claudine have influenced the school in many ways. Chaldeans are well-known for their prevalence in serving in school masses. In the spring, Marian put on a Chaldean Mass which helped show different traditions of Catholicism to its students. “If you have no Chaldeans here,” Claudine said, “there’s no Baghiya, no Mediterranean bar, among other things.”

Claudine is referring to an instance when a group of Chaldean students taught some of their teachers how to dance Baghiya. Claudine got married last year and invited some of her fellow teachers to the occasion. Those teachers implored Chaldean students to teach them the dances and other cultural traditions, like what to wear, that would be good to know for the wedding.

In the past, according to Claudine, students from other minority backgrounds, like African American students or Mexican immigrants, have found a home at CASA among the Chaldeans. “Chaldeans serve as a welcoming place for other minorities,” Claudine said.

Claudine also tries hard to educate her peers on Chaldeans so they can be culturally informed and know how to handle certain situations. She gave a presentation last year, with the help of the Chaldean Community Foundation, to members of Marian’s faculty. According to her, the presentation was well attended, and the school gained a lot from it.

Stories like these are common, with Chaldean teachers around the state exposing others to our heritage. Without Chaldeans, education in Michigan would look very different, and many schools would lose a significant aspect of our culture.