A big boost for Armenian day schools

Published: Thursday November 05, 2009

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This week we report on two milestones in the Armenian day school movement in the United States. Vatche and Tamar ­Manoukian of London made a generous donation of $11 million to the AGBU Pasadena High School and Center in Southern California. And the AGBU Alex and Marie Manoogian School in Southfield, Michigan, unveiled a new, state-of-the-art high-school building, as it celebrated its 40th anniversary. The new building had the generous support of Richard Manoogian and Louise Manoogian Simone.

Committed to continuing and developing the Armenian heritage in the United States, the Manoukian and Manoogian families, through their contributions to these institutions, have invested heavily in the future of our communities. In this worthy cause, they are joined by other donors and the AGBU, the principals, teachers, parents, and others involved.

Armenian day schools have always elicited a range of reactions from parents. Practically everyone appreciates the noble mission of each of the schools, to perpetuate Armenian culture, to teach the children the Armenian language, along with Armenian literature, history, and culture.

Quality, of course, is a primary concern. And many Armenian day schools have developed into centers of educational excellence and can proudly point to the accomplishments of their students and alumni - from high standardized-test scores for students, high college-acceptance rates for recent graduates, and career accomplishments for older alumni. These results are the direct result of the investments made by philanthropists as well as the efforts of the staff, parents, and volunteers.

Some parents want to see their children in a more diverse environment, and consider the diversity of the student body in other schools to be an essential part of the quality of education. Others celebrate the fact that by attending an Armenian day school, their children interact primarily with other Armenian-American children, developing a strong circle of Armenian friends. The parents are, in some cases, surprised to find that a shared Armenian heritage is not enough to isolate their children from the social challenges that are commonplace in American schools.

Parents often complain, too, that their children speak English with their classmates outside of formal Armenian-class settings. The pervasiveness of English is hard to overcome even where children are surrounded by peers who speak Armenian.

The cost of tuition is always a concern, especially in parts of Southern California where some of the benefits of Armenian day schools can be derived in public schools as well. The Manoogian School in Michigan some years ago chose to become a charter school; it receives public funding and charges no tuition.

A major challenge for Armenian day schools is the fact that students come from homes in which various forms of Armenian are spoken and written - if they are spoken and written at all. The parents of students from Western Armenian families might speak Western Armenian and write in the classical orthography. The parents of students from Iranian-Armenian families may use the same classical orthography, but speak Eastern Armenian. And the parents of students from Armenia may use reformed orthography and speak Eastern Armenian. Get six of each in a classroom and ask them what form of transportation they might use to fly. One may say "odanav," one may say "inknatir," another may say "samolyot" (the Russian term), and yet another may say, "airplane." And if the class settles on, say, "odanav," some will spell it with the letter "vev," others with the letter "hiun" in the final position. No one said it would be easy!

These are challenges we hope to air more fully in our pages in the coming weeks. We invite our readers to contribute to this discussion with their essays and letters.

In the meantime, we thank Vatche and Tamar Manoukian and Richard Manoogian and Louise Manoogian Simone for their leadership in investing in the Armenian education of future generations. Vartzkernit gadar - or, should we say, vardzknerd katar?