Class

Talking about current events in class today was very interesting. I was actaully proud of myself for paying attention to the news these past couple of days. I was actually aware of these crazy events going on in our county. I had received an email recently with a good summary of the new immigration bill. If it is passed, so many of our freedoms will be taken away. Many people might think that this will not affect them because they are not immigrants, but that doesnt matter. If someone commits a crime and cannot prove that s/he is a legal citizen, depending on the severity of the crime, the person can be deported back to his/her homeland, or whatever homeland they think the person is from. Even worse, the person may or may not be able to call for help, withdraw money for a bank, etc. Everyone's freedom is in jeapordy.

There are about 11 million immigrants in the US right now. If the bill is passed, they will become legal as long as they hold a job, pass a criminal background check, pay back taxes and fines, and learn English. This may sound like a good deal, but if the slightest thing goes wrong, the immigrants will be deported.

In relating this to our class, this bill can have a great effect on the education of immigrants. Children who are coming over from other countries will need an education. If something goes wrong with their parents citizenship, say they are unable to hold a job, the family may be deported. This stressful situation of going back and forth can cause great damage in a childs education, as we saw in "Of Boarders and Dreams." If this bill is passed, imagine how many students we could have going in and out of our classrooms. Prof. mentioned in class how schools are educating children even though they may not have the right legal papers. It is not the childrens fault if they are not legal. Most likely their parents faced many hardships in order to provide their children with a better life, so why should we deny them an education? I understand that people pay tax dollars and such, but how could we turn away innocent children? How else are they going to get an education. One of my goals is to get my ESL endorsement so that I can help students struggling with English and help them receive an excellent education, regardless of whether or not they are legal. I know this is a hot issue, but we need to take some sort of stand on it. I know its hard to get lost in our bubble =) but there are a lot of scary things going on in our government right now that are going to have a great effect on our future, so we need to pay attention.

wow i sound like an activist! but a lot of my profs have drilled this into my head lately...so im trying to pay more attention to the news =)