The story of Saad Al-Kassab is short, but nothing if not inspiring. In 2013 his family escaped the Syrian civil war, one of the bloodiest conflicts of our generation.
By June 2014 he was beginning to learn English by watching Parliamentary Question Time with his brother Omar. The two also joined with their local Scout troop to develop their speaking skills.
With only two and a half years of the language to his name, Al-Kassab has exceeded all expectations by graduating dux of Melbourne’s Catholic Regional College Sydenham.
A Syrian refugee has graduated dux of his secondary school after fleeing his war-savaged country and picking up English in just over two years.
Going against what a stream of current lawmakers seem to believe, Al-Kassab is the latest in a long line of refugees proving that Syrian immigrants aren’t trying to topple Australian society from the ground up.
Somewhere in the last decade, Australia has gone from a leading benefactor of multiculturalism and acceptance to an international embarrassment thanks to our standing refugee policy.
The emergence of the ugly Nauru Files earlier in the year (amongst limitless other discourse) should have been more than enough to incite mass change, but instead it seemed to slap against Parliament’s ankle like a wet noodle.
Congratulations to Al-Kassab for his tremendous result, and every other HSC graduate across Australia.
Via ABC News.
