It is disheartening to read the perspectives of opponents to the Maryland Dream Act; I find my teacher voice echoing the mantra of my classroom: "Worry about yourself."
In a city where the population of immigrant students and families is growing exponentially, it seems unfair to deny illegal immigrant students the in-state tuition breaks their peers receive for identical requirements. The law would allow children of Maryland residents who lack official citizenship documents to receive the same in-state tuition rate their fellow Maryland resident peers receive, given they have attended a Maryland high school for three years and can prove that their parents filed tax returns to the state.
As an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) teacher, I spend my days working with students who come from very diverse life situations. Regardless of the reason for their family's immigration from their home country, and regardless of whether or not that move was legal, I am unable to place any responsibility or blame on my ESOL students for their immigrant status. In fact, the very label 'immigrant' is perhaps the last on my list of characteristics for these students. My students are capable, intelligent, cultured, and bilingual. Their family's legal status has no bearing on that reality. The majority of my Latino ESOL students were born in the United States; the decision to immigrate was made perhaps while they were still a twinkle in their mother's eye.
It is for this reason I urge the opponents of the Dream Act to worry about themselves. Children of immigrant families who attend high school in this state and whose parents pay taxes deserve the same tuition break as everyone else who lives in the state. There is not difference between these students and their peers (except, perhaps, the cultured, intelligent, and bilingual part).
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-dream-act-appeal-20120612,0,6701916.story
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-in-state-results-20110707,0,6104123.story?page=1
3 comments:
Good points, but do you think that having the DREAM Act would be enough? What if these students' parents get caught up with immigration officials and get deported? What effect would that have on the students and their lifetime goals + opportunities?
This is definitely a pressing issue for the U.S. as a whole, in addition to MD. I also work in a school with a high ESOL population, and can agree that we should serve our students equally without being hampered or prejudiced about immigration status.
I'm with Naush though in that I think the DREAM Act is only one piece of the larger issue at hand, illegal immigration. The politics of the issue seems to center around amnesty versus deportation or some other form of punitive consequence. But even within the context of amnesty, what policies or legislation that might be put into place can really be a sticky issue.
Here is an interesting perspective on amnesty from a U.S. appeals court judge in Chicago:
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2012/02/amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-posner.html
I just found this on the U.S. Department of Education site, and thought it spoke to the discussion-- 30th anniversary of a supreme court case that struck down a state statute that tried to deny funds for illegal K-12 children:
http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-secretary-education-lauds-president-obamas-immigration-announcement-thirtieth
Post a Comment