The Children that Europe Forgot

By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Werner Weidenfeld*

Source: MPI

The number of school-aged children from immigrant families has reached a critical mass in Europe. In cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, one in every two students is a child of immigrants. This will be the norm in much of Europe in the coming decades. We believe that the education of these children should now rank among our top public policy priorities. Simply put, our schools do not do well enough for them. In data analysed for the Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and Integration, we found that 15-year-old immigrant students are, on average, one year behind native students. As many as one in four lack functional literacy and numeracy. As European economies increasingly adapt to a global, knowledge-based economy, education translates into employment. A lack of education means a lack of employment, with potential long-term consequences for our societies.

* Co-Chairs, Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and Integration. Op-Ed in the European Voice, September 20, 2007