Your thoughts please?

[MichaelN]

By Frosty WooldridgeJanuary 10, 2005 NewsWithViews.comHow would you like your child in kindergarten through 12th grade attending classes with kids who can’t read, write, speak or understand English--or American education values? Furthermore, how would you feel if those students felt zero investment in education, in English and the American way? How would you like your child’s education dumbed down to that of a classroom from the Third World? Guess what? Today, if you’re a parent of a child in thousands of classrooms across America, that’s what’s happening to your children with your tax dollars. Unfortunately, more problems exist in America’s classrooms than an invasion of illegal alien children. As a former classroom teacher, I compassionately say: first, it’s not their fault. Second, they can’t help their parents breaking into our country. Third, their problems multiple our problems into educational failure for our children. Fourth, illegal alien parents pay little into the tax infrastructure to fund that education. The Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, DC, estimates a minimum of 1.1 million illegal alien children attend American schools. The great majority of them cannot and do not speak English. English as a Second Language classes costs taxpayers billions of dollars. The cost of educating California’s three million illegal aliens with their children exceeds $2.2 billion annually. It may be noted that over 100 languages must be dealt with in that state. (Source: California Department of Education) California supports the most illegals and suffers the greatest state debt at $38 billion. Move over to Colorado with 200,000 illegal aliens and they suffer a $140.6 million annual cost for educating illegal alien children. (Source: Colorado Department of Education) Take a swing over to Georgia where it costs their citizens $230 million annually for educating their illegal alien student population. As a former classroom teacher, there is another problem seldom appreciated by parents and politicians. You can’t teach ‘up’ to the standards of American education with a small number of illegal children who can’t speak English. You must teach ‘down’ or ‘dumb down’ the classroom experience for all your students. No matter how well meaning we are trying to educate foreign students who can’t or won’t speak English, they pour into classrooms faster than it is possible to absorb them into our national language. Their parents can’t help them because their parents are functionally illiterate or cannot speak English in most cases. It’s why you see test scores dropping across the land. Many kids are ‘promoted’ out of high school without the ability to read, write or think at the most elementary levels. The crisis has reached epidemic proportions in California, so much so, well over half the 16 year olds (Source: LA Times newspaper) cannot understand a city bus schedule or pass a driver’s license test. Why? They can’t read. In Colorado, three years ago, 51 percent of the potential high school graduating class of the Denver Public Schools flunked out or dropped out. Not only that, the classroom experience for all students degrades down to negative educational disasters. That’s why, according to the Rocky Mountain News, December 2004, one in five teachers quits or transfers out of the inner city. The reason is, as a former teacher myself, when you try teaching in such a chaotic and undisciplined classroom, it’s depressing and futile beyond comprehension. I taught two years in the ‘inner city’ and fled for my own emotional health. The teachers that stay, simply ‘numb’ their way through the day. In Austin, Minnesota, they feature a day care center for unwed mothers attending high school. The flunkout rates, drug problems and overall classroom experiences have deteriorated to Third World levels. Why? The meatpacking plants imported over 2,000 illegal aliens and their children now dominate the Austin classrooms into an educational nightmare. Another crisis prevents a solid education for American children and terrifies parents across the country. Since 15 million illegal aliens now operate in the United States, (Source: Time Magazine, September 2004), they have crossed our borders without a health screening. Their children crossed with them. In the past five years, over 16,000 new cases of tuberculosis have crossed over from Mexico. It’s called multi-drug resistant myco-bacterium TB and it kills two million people worldwide annually. Last fall a year ago, 30 kids tested positive along with four teachers in a small town north of Detroit, Michigan. But if you watch the newspapers, you’ll see new cases of TB popping up like toast all across the country. It’s a ticking time bomb because illegal alien children may carry the disease and infect your kids. Another disease carried into our schools is hepatitis ‘A’ and over 100,000 cases have migrated into our country from illegal aliens. The problem is—illegal aliens from Third World countries do not practice the same hygiene and personal sanitation habits we have fostered in our First World country. They often won’t visit health authorities because they don’t want to get caught. If your child sits in a classroom with illegal aliens, your child is at risk and so are you. Worse, in the past five years, 7,000 new cases of leprosy (Source: Hansen’s Disease, Lerner, NY Times 2/28/03) have migrated into the USA from illegal aliens from India, Brazil and the Caribbean. It’s now endemic to the East Coast for the first time in the history of the United States. If your child interacts with an illegal alien child carrying leprosy, your child may come home with a new case of this ancient disease. However, the worst aspect of this national educational crisis stems from the fact that millions of these illegals are not absorbing into the American way of life. They have no intention of speaking English or learning our ways. Do we want a divided country, a violent and uneducated underclass, a loss of a cohesive language and our own children dumbed down? What does that yield? It gives us a frightening harvest of illiterate, uneducated, antagonistic and non-invested young people exploding into our society with no academic skills. That’s WHY the Third World suffers what it suffers: lack of an educated citizenry. Further, it also fosters separation from those who speak English and pursue educational goals versus millions who have babies out of wedlock, no working skills, non-English speaking and an uncanny ability to ride welfare rolls with unprecedented talent. Finally, this Republic is a delicate form of governance. Yes, democracy is terribly delicate and one glimpse around the world will show you why. It requires four qualities to remain viable and functioning. First, it needs a highly educated population that can participate in its continuance. Second, it needs a population with a similar moral code. Third, it demands a citizenry with a similar ethical system of conduct. Finally, it needs a nation that speaks the same language so it can discuss, debate and vote intelligently as it pulls in the same direction. We are losing all four qualities faster than you can count to ten.

[TECHX69]

I can see why your not a teacher anymore. I guess it's kind of hard when you hate your students. That moral code you mention, I bet it's your moral code and that we should all be like you.

[Ramlann]

Its easier to put all the blame on someone else.Like what she's doing here,blaming immigrants.I live in Singapore and its country of migrants.Still education level is high,many foreigners come here to study in local schools just to learn English.All they have to do is to pay once S$1000 and that's all.Come on,we always must look at ourselves first.Calling people aliens is not a great example.

[AbdelH]

I think you seemed to have missed something here...Does bring me your huddled masses mean anything ?...remember the US is BUILT on immigrants from all over the world and you have developed as a nation because of this...if you had no immigration where would your country be today ?...think about it..immigration adds value to every society, other people bringing their culture and language has added to your own.

[SoftTSoul]

I didn't read your whole post as it's long. But did you mention anywhere that Mexican parents all along the borders has an express lane at the border crossing for their children to come across and be educated in our public schools merely because those same parents are using a relatives address here in the States illegally. Talk about closing loop holes....However the illegals going to the private schools in the States have to pay their own way.

[steddyvoter]

Well, I agree and disagree, if that's possible. Let's put aside the fact that I want people to come here legally, and look at facts. I do know that my children did have to get the Hep A vaccine as a new precaution in our area. The pediatrician did say that it is due to uncontrollable medical conditions of people not being screened properly that are coming into the country. And, I will agree that it is not a child's fault if their parents drag them across a border or overstay a visa. However, I think that teachers also have an obligation to try to teach their students American values (regardless of legal status) - and I know this is hard now that ethics are considered taboo in classrooms. And, I do not think its necessary for everyone to have the same moral code in order to make our system of government work - actually its the differing views that give our nation its strength.

[cyclops3110]

America is for Americans, English is our Language, assimilate or self deport.

[Squiddy]

I agree with you on most of what you said, I have 2 children in the school system and I have seen the devastation that illegals have caused the city and the school system, more attention is being placed on those who don't even belong here and those who do belong are often ignored. Too much money is being spent on the wrong people and it is time for a change.I am glad that you have spoken out,hopefully some will see that the illegal situation is out of control and taking a toll on our children and our country.

[DAR2718]

Our schools are failing our children, with their own programs cut to fund ESL and 'intervention' classes for those who come illegally. The instant they set foot over the border they become a 'special ed' student with priority over our own children. Our schools are overcrowded with year round schedules and emergency credentialed teachers, even with the mega-billion dollar school construction that has been going on for years in LA.Our children's education IS their future, and their children are not more important than our own.