Brett Mize
Immigration reform is an extremely controversial topic. What isn’t that controversial is the strain that immigration and especially illegal immigration is placing on our public services. Milton Friedman once said, “It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.”
One of the public services being stretched the thinnest is our public education system. Public schools are exploding with kids. According to the Department of Education, the number of school-aged children has reached 55 million. By 2100, that number is expected to be over 100 million school-aged children. Immigrants and the children of immigrants account for nearly all of this growth in school enrollment.
The sad reality is that the schools that are being overcrowded and underfunded the most are the schools that need the most help. Inner-city schools where students already have many disadvantages are seeing their limited resources being spent simply trying to keep up with the ever increasing student enrollment. Programs such as bilingual training and bilingual classrooms cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while also making the learning environment more difficult. Big class sizes while being forced to be taught in multiple languages with scarce resources are not the best way to educate children, especially those already disadvantaged.
The biggest problem with the dramatic increase in illegal immigrants in public schools is that it is not financially sustainable. With so many states in financial trouble, many are already cutting into education funds. Teachers are being laid off or seeing their benefits cut, new learning equipment is being delayed, textbooks aren’t being bought, and so forth. Using reports by the US Immigration and Naturalization Services and figures from the Digest of Education Statistics, in the year 2002 the state of Kansas spent nearly $47,000,000 on education for illegal immigrants. Obviously this cost has only risen in the past seven years.
It seems to me that this money would be better spent compensating teachers, purchasing computers and other education equipment, and paying for other educational programs such as afterschool care.
This is not a matter of not being sympathetic to illegal immigrants or the immigrants we take in legally every year. The fact is, most of the world is poorer (much poorer) than the illegal immigrants crossing over the Mexican border. Are those in Niger, Myanmar, Yemen, Haiti, Laos, etc. not just as deserving of our compassion as any other person we seek to “take in” or rescue from poverty?
Letting a million or so immigrants in legally and watching millions more enter illegally is not a sincere effort into helping the third world and those in poverty. These poor countries are reproducing so quickly that any hope we have to take in immigrants is quickly undone by their rapid population growth.
Foreign direct investment, micro loans, non government organizations, stopping brain drain – the loss of the brightest individuals from poor countries, are all ways to help developing countries. Immigration is not one of them.
There are many ways we can help the third world. Becoming a third world country ourselves is not one of them. As our education system continues to be questioned and analysts’ claim that our education standards are declining relative to the rest of the world, overcrowding and underfunding schools is not a viable option for developing the next generation of Americans.
I don’t believe there is any hope to reestablish and build on our public education system until immigration reform is accomplished. Until then it will only get worse – we will continue to scrape pennies to build on to overcrowded and badly resourced schools.
Brett Mize/The Bulletin
So, what is your solution? Kick the children of illegal immigrants out of public schools? If that is indeed your solution, would you rather have a bunch of uneducated people running around? What if they were born in the US? The children are citizens of the US if they are born on US soil.
And honestly, more money was spent on an unnecessary war by a Republican president than is allocated for immigration issues.
Ther takin our JERBSSSSSSSS!
Sorry, Mr. Mize, but it is hard not to agree with Ryann on this one. Why would you kick American citizens out of schools or want uneducated people around the country. Most of the time, children are not brought to the country because they want to. How many immigrants leave and don’t bring their families? I’m sure not very many. Also, the majority of illegal immigrants are law-abiding citizens. You’re great hero Ronald Reagan even granted amnesty for these people, yet you forget about that part of your “saint’s” reign on the country. You lost your credibility after mentioning Milton Friedman, the economist whose economic theory has lead to the current problems we face. Study Keynesian economic theory and you will see the light I am sure.
I believe you have a valid point, but who are we to dictate who has the right to receive an education?
America was a country founded on given opportunities to the less fortunate ones. This is why it’s such a great country.
I’m a bit confused as to what point you’re trying to make when you talk about poorer immigrants from Niger, Myanmar, etc. It sounds to me like you’re saying that more distant people living in poverty are just as deserving of our compassion as those who are able to cross the Mexican border, so do we remedy this by providing a cheap or free means of transportation for them to the US — which seems to go against your overall argument — or is the point you’re trying to make here that we should crack down on immigration through the Mexican border to give peace of mind to those in poverty who have no way of traveling to the US? In which case, I don’t know that someone from somewhere like Niger is going to feel refreshed to hear that someone else who’s facing similar struggles isn’t able to solve their problems. When something bad happens to me, it doesn’t make me feel better to know that someone else is suffering too. Could you elaborate a little more on this?
Amen
Hi, I am a different Brett…but we should have the same policy Mexico has. First time caught as an illegal 2 years jail. Second time 10 years jail.
I want to save the world but not at bankrupting our country. We can only help if we stay strong. NO one will accept our poor – we help our own first and then we do what we can for the world.
Kick them out you say. NO make Mexico stop throwing them at us. Where is the protest for the corrupt and drug lords running Mexico causing the problem? Don’t point the finger at me without a real look at the problem.
I am tired of people bad mouthing America…as bad as we are – WE
We are the best country in the world – if illegals break us….where will they go then?
Our country was paid for with blood – if they don’t like theirs then fix it. Don’t run.
Well, you introduce your topic as it relates to “immigration reform,” however, you emphasize on the educational system of our country.
One of the best ways to help stop or slow down immigration is to do what England did. I was born in England in 1986 to American parents. Naturally, you would think, that because I was born on British soil, I have right to British citizenship, as do any foreigner born on U.S. soil.
Well, was I wrong. As Great Britain was granting independence to all of its former commonwealth republics, it tightened up the mass migration that soon ensued. They passed a law in 1983 to address this problem. This law stated that all foreigners born on British soil, without either a mother or father already a British Citizen, will not be granted citizenship. So, with that said, I have no rights to British citizenship.
Now, in the U.S., an illegal immigrant comes to the United States, has a child, the child is automatically a citizen, and thus gives the right for the parent to stay. This, in my understanding, worked for Great Britain, and here it would likely do the same.
Of course, the big question is: What do we do with the 20+ million immigrants still here. Well, that is really an issue that should be addressed, and the country should rather encourage taking advantage of this situation rather than discouraging it. These people could be useful for the make-up of our future society. Since they are here, give them incentives to become citizens, since it is clearly more difficult, and more expensive to ship them off.
Reform should begin at the state level, and then work its way to the federal level with each state addressing its specific problems, and a regulatory stipulation in which every state should constitute with the Federal Government.
Next we should focus on diplomacy with Mexico, whom of which is our most important ally for addressing the situation.
But, in retrospect to what you are speaking of, education… Heavy reform should take into account the multilingual nature of our society, it should not be discouraged, yet also should be embraced. Our current, quickly growing, Spanish-speaking minority should be addressed and educated in a way comparable to the English-speaking majority. Incentives for English classwork and the study of the United States should be a prerequisite for U.S. Citizenship, and our allocated educational funding should sponsor schools specializing in such agendas.
Also, in addition to this problem, our current education system has failed us on a world level. The United States ranks 23 in math and science, two of the major drivers of innovation and our economy. The objectives of our educational platform are being far surpassed by developing countries like China and India, two countries of which also are enjoying the fruits of emigration to our country, because simply put, it is them who are driving our economy in innovation, math and science, although we still are managing to slip.
Our taxes should be put to work in the public sector educational system, we have a surplus of qualified teachers, lets use them.
It should be that we diversify our educational platform and incorporate post-secondary education at the high school level, encouraging students to approach fields of study at a younger age, free of charge. It makes our future job-seekers more competitive and motivates them to learn, rather than seeking ways to work a low income job after earning a simple high school diploma.
In addition, make post-secondary education 100% free (FOR U.S. Citizens) or at least subsidize it above 50%.
Of course such matters would include raised taxes, which would piss a lot of people off, however, tax reform would be ideal and base it on a flat rate system, accountable at a fixed percent for every American worker (without tax incentives or breaks). This would be ideal, and it would lower the percent taxed on every citizen, yet at the same time, every citizen would pay tax, but at least have an equal chance and opportunity for better life.
These are a series of changes I would make, but then again, I don’t speak on behalf of those who have opposing viewpoints on their political agendas…
This article is 100% right on. I agree completely with the author. I’ve been in the field of education for 10 years and have seen what I call the decay of Southern California from the inside out.