In response to a readers comments on NCBL : Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes to support the education system, but they fill up classrooms and place a financial burden on our school systems. The large population of students causes teachers and other resources to be stretched thin. Furthermore, most illegal immigrants do not learn our language and do not intend to assimilate to our culture. Therefore, English-speaking students must learn at a slow pace to accommodate students who can't keep up because of poor language skills. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, initially authorized in 1965 as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), was signed into law on January 8, 2002 as a means of holding states, school districts and schools more accountable for improving the academic performance of each student regardless of economic status, race, ethnicity, proficiency in English or disability. (http://www.nsba.org/site/page.aspTRACKID=&VID=1&CID=895&DID=11192)
Sanctions are put schools that don’t make AYP standards thus allowing every parent the choice to move their child to another school. It is unrealistic for a Hispanic child to pass a test given in English when they can’t even speak the language. It is not fair for schools to be held accountable for something they cannot change. By forcing schools to focus their time and funding almost entirely on bringing low-achieving students up to proficiency, NCLB sacrifices the education of the gifted students who will become our future leaders. Rather than acknowledging the need to provide a more advanced curriculum for high-ability children, some schools mask the problem by dishonestly grading students as below proficiency until the final report card, regardless of their actual performance. The government should consider how children of illegal immigrants are a setback to the system and revise the NCLB act. Click here for more information.
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3 comments:
I concur with the argument presented here. Illegal immigration is sapping the resources of our education system and the entire country. Why should children who do not assimilate or learn to speak the language hold back those who have been here since the beginning? That is why I propose that there is no teaching or government work produced in any language other than those original to this nation, Cherokee.
Children of illegal immigrants deserve the right to an education just as much as children that have lived in the U.S. their entire lives. It is not fair to make immigrant children suffer the consequences of their parent’s choices. Why not spend the extra money educating them so down the road they will benefit our society instead of continuing to drain out the resources? If you can’t eliminate a problem, you are forced to improve upon it.
It is true that regardless of how one might feel about our nation’s immigration policies, there is no turning away from the children of illegal immigrants already living here. Who those children grow up to be will have a significant impact on our nation’s social and economic future. Children of illegal immigrants face many hardships including poverty, high mobility, limited English proficiency, and lack of insurance. Education opens many doors. We should make every effort to help these children succeed regardless of their parent’s decisions. The truth of the matter is that these children are here to stay and it is in our best interests to help them in any way we can. Our schools are suffering from overcrowding, but the numbers of students are not going to decrease. We must push our government to spend more money on academic services rather than building costs for new schools. We must help those children already enrolled prosper or we are merely wasting the hope of a bright future away.
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