Undocumented Immigrants Children in America’s Public Education System
Introduction
Illegal immigration has been a major topic of discussion in America for years. What is discussed less often, however, is the academic plight of the children of illegal immigrants. Should these immigrant children be allowed to attend public schools? What happens to them if they cannot attend? With new standards of excellence in every state, and the demands of “No Child Left Behind” still looming over each district, should schools be required to take on the education of students who speak little, if any, English, may have learning or emotional concerns, and are not citizens? Both sides of this issue raise cogent points that must be carefully considered.
Pros
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They are here illegally and should be forced to leave the country. The states do not owe anything to those who are not citizens. Just like the child of a thief does not get to keep the ill-gotten gains of the father, the children of illegal immigrants should not be allowed to profit from the unlawful act of entering the country illegally (Burger, 1982).
Strain on Education The number of illegal immigrant children is putting a fiscal strain on states’ educational budgets. It is costing more and more to educate students who are citizens. An influx of undocumented immigrant children will only grow class sizes and reduce the effectiveness of teachers. Also, the fact that most undocumented children know little English, need of remedial education, and live in poverty, means that more dollars will need to be spent on these children than on the average citizen. The states cannot afford to support their own children and the children of another country (Wood, 2014)
Impact Minority
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When they walk into the doors of the school, it does not matter if they are rich or poor, if they are white or students of color, or if they are documented or undocumented, they are all students. More, though, than just my feelings, there are several specific reasons that undocumented students should be allowed to attend school.
Taxes are Paid Not all undocumented immigrants pay taxes, I am sure, but neither do all citizens. Enough undocumented workers, it seems, pay taxes that they, as a group, should be considered taxpayers, and the children of taxpayers have a right to be educated. Schools are not run on citizenship documentation. Those papers do nothing to provide care and education for the students. Schools are run on tax dollars, and anyone putting into that fund should be allowed to reap the rewards.
Unintended
In Subtractive Schooling: US-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring, Angela Valenzuela investigates immigrant and Mexican American experiences in education. Valenzuela mentions differences in high schools between U.S born youth and immigrants such as how immigrants she interviewed seemed to achieve in school as they feel privileged to achieve secondary education. However, she found that her study provided evidence of student failure due to schools subtracting resources from these youths. Both are plagued by stereotypes of lacking intellectual and linguistic traits along with the fear of losing their culture. As a Mexican American with many family members who immigrated to the U.S to pursue a higher education, I have experience with Valenzuela’s
With the beginning of mandatory education in 1852 and the influx of large numbers of immigrants with their children (Reddy, p5), America was faced for the first time with educating a heterogeneous group of students. These children had diverse social and cultural backgrounds, as well as something the educators of the previous, homogenous schools had not been forced to deal with. Many of these children showed signs of various learning, developmental, physical, and emotional/behavioral problems.
In the article, “How to Incorporate Immigration Studies into High School Curriculum”, Dan-el Padilla Peralta argues that by educating high school students on immigration, they will be able to reform policies on it in the future.
A huge crisis looms right in front of this country, yet the United States’ politicians do not even take notice. Millions of illegal aliens receive free education every day and it costs the country billions of dollars. California spends most of this money, but Texas does not sit far behind. Not only will this bankrupt and destroy one of the best education systems in the world, but it will also encourage more and more illegals to bring their children to America. Why would anyone expect the situation to be any different? If a car dealership decided to give away cars for one week to anyone that came to the front door there would be no shortage of people lining up outside the gate. Allowing illegal immigrants to continuously take advantage of America’s education system continues to cut the legs out from under this country both financially and educationally.
Having the opportunity of staying in school is very important to illegal immigrants because that means they can realize the American Dream. It is something that every immigrant that comes to the U.S wants to achieve. By applying to the dream act illegal immigrants from the age of sixteen through thirty five can go to school. They are eligible to stay in school and or go to college if they have not done so. For example some of the immigrant students have immense talents that can be used for America’s assistance, but not being able to stay in school they can not succeed. “Thousands of young people have worked hard. But they are being denied that chance to build a better future for themselves and to contribute their skills, talents, and creativity to the country” (Duncan). By having the choice of staying in school, as well as the help it is more exciting to those students that want to become someone in life. Some of the illegal aliens possess some amazing talent...
The number of ELLs being educated in the United States has increased dramatically. Although total enrollment between the 1993-1994 school year and the 2003-2004 school year rose by only 10%, the number of school-age ELLs increased by 100% (Short & Echevarria, 2004), and researchers predict that by the year 2030, 40% of the school-age population will be ELLs (DelliCarpini, 2008). This rise in school-age ELLs can be attributed to the increasing immigrant population in the U.S. (Echevarria et al., 2006). Although 75% of all immigrant children reside ...
In Chinese philosophy and religion, there is two principles, one negative and dark (yin), one positive and bright (yang)."yin and yang". The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 14 Apr. 2016.In simpler words every good need, it’s bad and every bad needs its good, therefore, every pro has its con.
Many people have come to America for a better life and to get away from all the troubles of their homeland. These immigrants, like those throughout U.S. history, are generally hard workers and make important contributions to the economy through their productive labor and purchasing power. America is considered a melting pot of many diffrent ethinic group. Immigrants should be able to enter America with little if any resistance from any border patrol. Immigrants in america take the low paying, hard labor jobs that , unfortunately, some americans don't want.
Some would say, quotes John F. Kennedy, “Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.” Thus, in today’s society, we can say that immigrants are what made America possible—economically and socially. We are in a melting pot era where the impossible was made possible. From the time John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, making a promise to change the national origins system to unite the nations of all countries equally. Hence, in 1965, under Lyndon Johnson’s administration, Kennedy’s promise came into light, amending the INS—favoring unification of families, not national origins. Although, the unification was made possible, the peacefulness never lasted.
In America, the idea of equality between people is important, it is in fact, written into the Constitution. However, for years the American educational system has operated in a completely inequitable manner due, in part, to the way that schools are funded, mostly through local or property taxes. The differences between schools in wealthy neighborhoods and those in poor neighborhoods are, many times, reminiscent of the differences between white schools and black schools before the end of segregation. While there is a desperate need to fix this broken system, there has been little progress. The issue is so divisive and the problem so big and entrenched in American laws, many politicians refuse to even attempt to come up with a solution. The answer lies with the federal government. To make American public schools equitable the federal government needs to step up its role in funding and administering the schools.
The United States has seen a gradual increase in the number of illegal immigrants who cross its borders for the past fifteen years. According to a 2013 report by the Pew Research Center, almost twelve million undocumented immigrants were living in the United States in 2012. (Gomez, A.) According to William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, immigration is “starting to have a bigger impact on more States while it continues to have a very big impact on traditional immigrant magnets such as California” (Haya El, N. and Kiely, K.)
But they’re many immigrants who pay their taxes and do everything right under the law. It still wouldn’t be right to take that privilege away despite their parents “lack” of knowledge. Some don’t know but it can’t be their child’s fault they don’t know better, if we educate these kids correctly they will do things correct under the law when they’re older and even educate their parents to make things right and continue forward. The term anchor baby is pretty hurtful considering, they are saying that their parents only came to this country illegal so they would have a right to stay here, when many kids have been separated from their families. “anchor babies” basically according to Donald trump means the mother has the kid on the border of united states just to grant her kid the citizenship which would benefit them later on. Which isn’t 100%
Politicians and high profile people have been referring to these children as “anchor babies”. That phrase is offensive and insinuates that the child’s only purpose in life is to fix the papers of their illegal parents to allow them to stay in the U.S. It must be acknowledged that the children had no choice in how or where they were born and blaming/incriminating them will do nothing but create a dividing line within in United State citizens. This could create a larger issue. Citizens feeling as though they are more significant than others simply because their parents are legal citizens is silly. This situation has the potential have a similar reaction to the difficulties in ethnicities in the U.S. It should not matter how a person gains citizenship as long as they have it. To say one way of gaining citizenship is better than another is hypocritical because the only reason the majority of this nation’s citizens have citizenship is because their grandparents or parents migrated here. In actuality, their parents would be considered “anchor babies”. Alienating and dehumanizing a certain group is not what America stands for. There have been many movements to ensure equality for everyone. America welcomes all types of people with all different types of backgrounds because that is what this nation was built
To achieve great opportunities in the United States you have to be educated. Most undocumented immigrants are very smart but unfortunately they just can’t afford to pay for college expenses because they are not giving the chances to receive financial aid. I believe once you are living in America for more than five years you should automatically become a citizen, because you start to pick up America lifestyle. Most immigrants contribute to our country, whether it is them cleaning up the park or working in factory they help America function because the job they are doing many American wouldn’t do it, so therefore I feel that American should give them the opportunity to receive financial aid.
...he squatter camps of the city which they are living. Moreover slums are also the source of all kinds of social evils such as drugs and prostitution because of the lowest security.