Public Education and the Undocumented Immigrant
Introduction
Thank you all for being here this evening to discuss an issue in the public school system. Undocumented immigrants are entering this country every day and their children are being educated in our schools. A child of an undocumented immigrant, in this case, refers to one whose parents have entered this country without proper legal documentation (Bray, 2016). Undocumented immigrant children may or may not have been born in this country.
Judicial Case
In 1982, the Supreme Court of the United States, based on the trial of Plyler vs. Doe, declared that public schools are not allowed to deny any child a free public education based on their immigration status, according to an article
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According to the Bureau of Legislative Research (2010), students who qualify as English Language Learners (those with limited English skills) earn the school an additional amount of money as well. For the 2008-09 school year, Arkansas districts spent $12.5 million on ELL students according to this same research conducted. According to Oleaga (2014), there were over fifty-five thousand undocumented children unaccompanied by a parent or guardian who were apprehended from late 2013 to mid-2014. This means that more children who have limited English skills are continuing to enter the country.
Cultural Influence Students who have a different background are a benefit to any classroom. They offer diversity and interesting perspectives. According to an article published on the Future of Working website, undocumented immigrants offer these benefits to any community (2015). Their influence would be greatly sought in a Spanish class taught in the U.S. Teachers can see these immigrants as resources and learn from these students.
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However, when a person is here illegally, he or she typically does not have a regular job to pay these taxes. Therefore, the education of children of these immigrants is being funded by taxpaying citizens. All of this is according to an article on the Future of Working website (2015). If the children were born in the U.S., then they are considered citizens, but this does not change their parents’ status. In addition to this, according to the Bureau of Legislative Research (2010), schools must spend money for ELL specialists to spend time with the students who qualify for these services. If a school does not have enough ELL students to qualify for federal funding, these salaries may have to be paid by the district (Wood,
Meaning the inability to speak and understand English prevents non-English speaking students from effectively participating in the education program, and it is the districts responsibility to fix that deficiency. With the funds received, they are not allowed to offer services, aids or other benefits to individuals that is different from other individuals in the same program. Discrimination based on race, national origin includes discrimination in the availability or use of academic resources. It is evident that the
Laird (1925) was the first Mexican American litigation cases of school desegregation. The plaintiff Romo sued the defendant Tempe Elementary School District. The board directed the Mexican American children to the Eighth Street School; this was a school primarily consisting of Mexican American students who were segregated from their white comrades to attend a school taught by student teachers. These teachers weren’t even qualified; they were part of a beginners teaching program developed at Tempe State Teachers’ College. Romo argued that the teachers provided were not qualified and did not have the ability to teach properly compared to well qualified teachers.
Very few, if any, immigrants have the chance to learn English before traveling to the U.S. Because of this barrier, it is nearly impossible for organizations such as the Border Patrol to warn, aid, and communicate with them as they travel to the U.S. Although there are helpful signs along the border, they are written in English and are therefore indecipherable. Furthermore, the language border hinders an immigrant’s ability to survive in American society once they arrive. English is the written and spoken language in almost every city, thwarting immigrants’ opportunity to find jobs and interact with others. As they struggle to communicate, they become ostracized and do not fit in.
Going into this interview project I was curious to learn more about the experiences that immigrants had to go through. My interviewee, Mario, is an 18 year old immigrant that migrated to America from Bolivia at the age of 10. I have known Mario since middle school and we’ve been friends since then. We have grown up around the same area too and now we both attend the University of Maryland.
This was his dream and was going to make it happen. When he arrived at the United States, Enrique had a difficult time adjusting since he did not know any English, but he did not let that stop him. He was enrolled in junior and high school in California. But an obstacle occurred and he was not able to attend the university after his first year because he was an undocumented school. Years later, he received his green card and was able to attend school again.
Argumentative Writing Undocumented immigrants are getting deported and they can’t have an experience they wanted to have when they came to america. But, because of the us government they can’t have this experience some get this experience but they still have to be very careful. They all also fear because some of them have kids then they fear for themselves and then there kids because it’s their family. Do you want to live in a community where you see mexican and people on the streets because of crossing the border. This is why i think that the government shouldn’t deport undocumented immigrants because then they don't get a chance to have an american experience.
One of the toughest adjustments, having been born to Mexican parents, is migrating to an unknown country where traditions and languages differ from one 's own. Though many pursue an education and strive for a better life, the purpose behind an immigrant, like myself, differs from the typical American. Immigrants strive for a life that was once impossible, going to school is not only to attain an education, but to better prove that we can also become successful regardless of our traditions and skin color. I lived in a country for over fifteen years, fearing deportation, not only losing a home, but potentially saying goodbye to a bright future. Although many feel empathy for Mexican-Americans, it is undeniably difficult to truly comprehend the immense trauma children and even adults undergo upon experiencing racism and prejudice.
Their continued use of Spanish as their private language stunted their ability and confidence to speak English. This slowed their assimilation in the American society (Rodriguez).
The Chicano movement The Chicano Movement emerged during the Civil Rights Era and mainly consisted of three parts: The Land Grant Struggle Farm Worker's Rights The Student Movement Nevertheless, before the movement, Hispanics already achieved several preliminary accomplishments. Starting off in 1947, the case Mendez v. Westminster Supreme Court prohibited the segregation of Latino students from white students.
Given that first issue starts out at home with language barriers when parents are not able to assist their child with the problems they may need help with. But, may continue when certain high schools are only interested with their top 10 graduates or in other words the students with the highest honors, or are just wanting you to get your degree and get out of there depending on the school and the area that it is in. A study done by the University of Georgia did an analysis on Hispanic high school seniors on track to graduate who were all invited to participate in a program to transition them from high school to college. The entire goal of this program was to increase the number of students who applied to college. Luckily this programmed increased
Richard Rodriguez and Gloria Anzaldúa are two authors who both immigrated to America in the 1950s and received first hand experience of the assimilation process into American society. During this time, Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had struggled adjusting to the school system. Since understanding English was difficult, it made adjusting to the American school system increasingly difficult for Rodriguez. Whereas Anzaldúa, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to America’s school system due to the fact that she didn’t wish to stop speaking Spanish even though she could speak English. Both Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had points in their growing educational lives where they had to remain silent since the people around them weren’t interested in hearing them speaking any other language than English.
Segregation of Mexican Americans from the dominant Anglo race has been around for many years. Since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexican Americans have been treated like a second-class race facing racism and segregation. As a result, segregation in the education system affected Mexican American children. An increasing number of Mexican Americans across California led to an increase of Mexican children enrolling in schools. Author David James Gonzales (2017), explores the degrading school facilities Mexican students were assigned to.
The Back of a Nonexistent Line In the film Documented and The New York Times article “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” Jose Antonio Vargas describes his experience as an undocumented immigrant in the United States and provides a passionate argument for creating a pathway to citizenship for others like Vargas, who are undocumented as well. Although both the film and article give the viewers and readers an insight into Vargas’ difficult journey, a particular scene in the film sends an unspoken message about the United States as a whole. In Documented, the scene in which Jose Antonio Vargas attends a Mitt Romney campaign rally is detrimental to the immigration debate because it demonstrates the need for Americans to be educated about undocumented
But even when they didn’t learn English themselves, their children grew up speaking it. Thousands of first-generation Americans still strive to learn English, but others face reduced educational and career opportunities because they have not mastered this basic skill they need to get ahead. According to the 1990 census, 40 percent of the Hispanics born in the United States do not graduate from high school, and the Department of Education says that a lack of proficiency in English is an important factor in the drop-out rate. People and agencies that favor providing services only in foreign languages want to help people who do not speak English, but they may be doing these people a disservice by condemning them to a linguistic ghetto from which they cannot easily escape.
Immigrants and Education We believe that teachers and parents are struggling to make their students and children involved in a different community from their original community. Because these students have different cultures, languages and values from their teachers who are doing their best to meet the needs of all international students (Shurki & Richard, 2009). The schools across the country today are looking for ways to welcome and assist immigrant families because they become a big part of their communities. So how these effect on each of students, teachers and parent? Teachers Some school districts respond to the needs of immigrant and refugee students by creating “newcomer” programs (Hertzberg, 1998).