My current event was about how on Monday November 15th, 2010 the California Supreme Court ruled that illegal immigrants can be eligible for the same reduced tuition at public colleges as legal residents of the state. This means that they now only have to pay the in-state tuition of the college if they have been living there for six or more months just like any legal citizen would.
This goes back to the Plyler vs Doe precedent that was established in 1976. The Texas legislature in 1975 revised its education laws so it would no longer support illegal aliens with free public education of grades k-12, because they claimed that illegal aliens were costing them money. There was a class action filed against the law in 1976 saying that that this law went against the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Ammendment. The judge ruled for the illegal aliens saying that not only does it violate the 14th ammendment, but that the school would actually gain money from illegal aliens because the school would receive more money from the higher population.
All though illegal aliens are now eligible for the reduced tuition on college, they remain inelegible for state and federal financial aid. Many pro immigration citizens are hoping for a federal financial aid law to pass for illegal immigrants during this current lame duck session. If it does not get passed during the lame duck session, it will be less likely for it to get passed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/us/16immig.html
Probing Question :
How could illegal immigrants in grades k-12 affect the other students and even teachers in the class? For better or worse?
I think that immigrants in grades k-12 would help the students to expand their views of the world and learn about different cultures. The students would be able to interact with people who are different, which would teach them acceptance. Although it would in some ways be for the better, I don't know how having an illegal immigrant would help because they are breaking the law and that is not the greatest example.. The only positive thing I can think of for the fact that they're illegal is that they would realize how lucky they are to live in a country where people are willing to break the law to come to.
ReplyDeleteI think that having an Illegal immigrant in a classroom would expand the views on immigration as a high school student but as far as kindergarden through fifth grade the affect will be understated because at that age kids don't know and don't care wheather or not the person in the class is illegal. As far as the teachers being affected it all depends on the teacher's point of view on illegal immigration if the teacher looks at it as a way to better themselves and the students in the class then it will work out for the better. But on the other hand if the teacher is totally agaisnt it this may casue that child to not get the proper treatment that the 14th Amendment says they should get. All in all its all depending on age and point of views, I'm sure that some kids in my class in Southern California were here illegally but it didn't affect me what so ever. I don't know if my views would've changes as I got older but in the seventh grade it never really crossed my mind.
ReplyDeleteI believe that with having illegal immigrants in our children's classrooms, it is a bad thing. I am saying this because, it shows that we are wasting our tax-payer money for Illegal immigrants to go into our school systems. Us, as families in the United States of America, obviously do pay taxes towards our children's educations. They are not direct taxes, but they come out of the sales taxes, the property taxes, and so on that are put upon us. So, in conclusion of my belief, I really think that having an illegal immigrant in our children's classrooms is bad, because, in the end, it wastes our taxes. (plus, it is illegal)
ReplyDeleteHaving illegal immigrants in a class could be a good thing but then just as well could be a bad thing. I agree with Ryan that it would help to expand peoples view on immigration. However on the negative side in most schools people are separated by their race and age. Since there are cliques in schools most people wont really get the extended view on immigration. Also if the student does not speak English it takes away from all of the other students ability to learn. As for teachers they will have to do more work to get the student up to the standard of the rest of the class. If the student were to enter in a younger grade however it would be easier then if the were to enter into high school or middle school.
ReplyDeleteI think that the illegal immigrants in the classes between grades k-12 will have both a positive and negative affect in the classroom. On the bad side, it might allow for more bullying to occur especially in the higher grade levels. On the other hand, it will enhance the diversity of the classroom population, which could then help students learn more about different cultures. For example in a history class that is studying immigration, having many immigrants could be helpful for understanding certain point of views. As to the teacher aspect of this question, I don't think it will have a huge impact on teachers, but it may affect them in a way as to change their teaching styles. This is the case with certain other students as well. The area that will be most affected is the students relationship amongst each other. I do not agree with this law being passed in California because I think it is unfair.
ReplyDeleteHaving illegal immigrants in the classroom from grades K-12 will have a positive and negative affect on their peers and teachers. One negative affect is the lack of the English language that a student may have. This will take time out of the teacher's day to help him or her learn the language. In this time another student could have been helped affecting the illegal alien's peers. Another negative affect is that since the government is not recieving tax money from the illegal immigrants, there will not be an equal ratio of income of schools to students. This will create overcrowded classrooms where there is more work for teachers and less one-on-one time for students. A positive aspect of having illegal aliens in the schooling system is the exposure to other cultures. This will create children at a young age to have an open mind.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Adam and Jackie in that one of the positive effects of having an illegal immigrant in grades k-12 is an expansion of culture and developing an open mind. In a way, some of the negatives include the unfairness of simply being there illegally and the possible bullying going on. However, I do not think that this would strongly affect classmates and teachers. Individual connections in the student body may have trouble forming because of culture or language gaps. In addition, if illegal immigrants started being taken by the police, then that would seriously affect people who lost friends they grew up with. This may have an emotional effect on classmates and teachers. But in another case, like what Ryan said, if I had an illegal immigrant in my class, the thought wouldn't even cross my mind. I think many people just would not really care. The only reason I can think of that would cause people to strongly care about it is if they had strong beliefs on illegal immigration. I pay more attention to, and weigh more, the result as a whole. So, with expanded culture in the student body and more money in the school's pocket for education, I see the possible illegal immigrant scenario as a gain. Attempting to weigh the positives versus the negatives, I personally think that the positives are worth more. After all, as Chris said, the schools are paid more for the higher population. Isn't that good too?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Adam, Jackie, and Christian that having illegal immigrants in grades k-12 is both a positive and negative affect to the students and teachers. I think that it is a positive thing because it allows the students, as well as the teachers, to learn about new cultures and backgrounds of places they may not have as much insight on as they think they do. One negative affect is, like Jackie said, the lack of the English language in their vocabulary. If the illegal immigrant students don't know how to speak a whole lot of English, then they are sort of at a disadvantage and so are the students who speak English because it will slow the class down. I know that in High School, if a student does not speak a lot of English, the class is usually stopped in order to help that one person. I think that in the younger grades, there would not be as much of an affect on the students, but more in the higher grades like when the students reach middle school/early high school years. Having illegal immigrant students in the same classrooms is a good thing overall because it allows for diversity among the kids.
ReplyDeleteI think that having illegal immigrants in the k-12 school system will definitely play an affect on students, teachers and parents in good and bad ways. I think that parents that are paying for their child in out of state tuition would be upset, because a person who is living in that state illegally is getting in-state tuition fee's. Another bad thing in the school system is overcrowded classrooms, and the language teachers would have a lot of students who don't know English, and they would have a lot of kids to teach in this case. But some good things come out of this also, and I see integrating kids with others may be a good thing because they get a sense to learn about others culture or life, and at least the illegals are getting an education, and not stealing our jobs without an education.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is fine that they are eligible for everything that leagl residents are eligible for with school related money. They are here illegally but it is not like they chose to. Some of them come here because there parents came here and brought them here. It is not like they are criminals and are doing something wrong they just came here to better themselves. College is very expensive and some of their families do not have enough money to send them. Also Ms. Vivirito told us that story of the girl that was a genius and did not get to go to college because she had no money and was an illegal immigrant. I also agree with Buzz because like he said you can intergrate classes and this could break down racism and prejudice.
ReplyDeleteI think that having an illegal immigrant in the classroom is good and bad. From a good point of view, I think that it would benefit children from ages K-around 5th grade. During that age, that is when most people form their moral views and they learn a lot from each other. If they come face to face with an illegal immigrant, they can learn how to treat them, with respect that is. Also, I think that if kids are exposed to that at a young age they will learn that immigrating illegally may not always be their fault, instead it may be as if they had to come with their family. There is always things that people can learn about one another at any age, but at a young age is when kids learn the most.
ReplyDeleteLooking at this from a bad point of view however, is that many kids who immigrate may have a harder time understanding the education they are trying to receive because of the language differences. If they don't understand the language, it could potentially cost the school more money to try to integrate language into that student's schedule. This could also be very distracting to other kids and the teachers could be less focused on teaching.
I think that having immigrants in grades k-12 would be a good idea because it would help to improve the diversity and the tolerance of the people in America. Most people who are racist are people who are older, and who when they were younger established a mindset that is very close minded to people who are not of their race. If kids are exposed to people of different races at a young age then they will be open minded for their entire lives I think that the United States supports to “melting pot” idea, and it is important that its citizens follow in the shadow of the reputation that the United States has set. If we were to restrict the amount of immigrants that we have in schools, then racism and close mindedness would be supported and continued through the future.
ReplyDeleteI believe that having illegal immigrants in our school systems could have both negative and positive affects inside the classroom. In some cases, it may make teacher's jobs harder if the immigrant has not perfected english and therefore needs extra help. Also, I agree with Adam that this could cause more bullying in the classroom and if that happens then it is a disruption of learning. In high school's I feel that this would be very likely. People could even start rumors targeting somebody that may be a legal immigrant and tell everybody that they are an illegal immigrant. On the other hand, having immigrants (legal or illegal) in a classroom will create diversity and educate students about other cultures. If from k-12 you are around people with different cultures, you will learn to be comfortable with diversity and accept those who are different.
ReplyDeleteI believe that having illegal immigrants in the k-12 school systems will affect some people for the better and some for the worse. When having illegal immigrants in the schooling system it will allow people to see how others learn and how cultures teach different things.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that having illegal immigrants will affect kids with learning. Having illegal immigrants in the classroom will affect the things that need to be taught in class and the teachers will have to go at a slower pace for them because they either don't speak English or because they do not know what the teacher is talking about. I also agree with Adam that there will also be a lot of bullying when it comes to immigrants coming here. A lot of kids ask, “Where did they come from?” Or “Why are they here?” This causing kids to make fun of one another and make the kids coming here for a better life want to go back to there country.
Overall this will cause have an affect on the kids k-12 in a positive but also a negative way it just depends on the situation at hand.
it wouldn't hurt as much as we think it would.i think that the classroom size would get bigger and that would affect the teacher but the classrooms are already expanding with legal immigrants so they wouldn't affect it that bad in that aspect. the new illegal students might have a rough time in a new environment and might be made fun of by their other students. i think a kid is a kid and if you put them together their gonna end up being the same so it might affect the students by distracting them from class
ReplyDeleteI think it would effect the students who are not illegal immigrants in the worse way possible. It could cause them to become racist when they grow older. What if their parents find out an illegal immigrant is in class with their kid? Who knows what the parents will tell their kids, and than what their kids will say to the illegal immigrant students.
ReplyDeleteI believe that having undocumented children in grades k-12 would benefit because they would bring another culture into the classroom, they would make the class more diverse and could even possibly have undocumented children that could goon to become doctors and scientists. Having these children in our schools could also have a negative effect, because it would cost more to educate them, and the number of children per teacher is greater, so that is less one on one time for each child. This interferes with the child's learning. On the other hand, educating more children with a good American education, yields the greater chance of having successful adults in the world.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the benifits of having immigrant students (legal or illegal) would help benifit the classroom as seeing differnt values and morals and how things are different around the world. It could help kids learn to grow outside of american sterotypes and see people as they really are. Some of the disadvantages of having an illegal imigrant in a classroom is they could speak a totally different language from the teacher or students making them unable to comprehend the task at hand. They also can do poorly inschool if they are either not trying hard enough or cant due to the fact that there is a language barrier between the teacher and student.
ReplyDeleteI think that illegal immigrants would be a positive affect on students and teachers because learning about other cultures and countries in the world is interesting. Also, it gives the illegal immigrants to have a chance to be around Americans and just know that they are all the same. You learn in school, not to be racist towards other people. Everyone deserves an educaion if you are black, white, Mexican, Puerto Rican.
ReplyDeleteI do not think illegal immigrants effect the class or the teachers substantially. As long as they have assimilated to the point where they can learn in a full English class setting, they shouldn't be a problem. The only minor issue that the teachers should encounter is their class being disrupted, and this is not being guaranteed. The only way their class would be disrupted is if students bully the illegal immigrant. In the case, the teacher can easily send the bully(ies) to the office and punish them. If the bullying continues then they should be more severely punished. It's not much of an issue.
ReplyDeleteI don't think illegal immigrants in school have any effect at all on anyone. I know from personal experience that i found out that i had illegal immigrants in my class and had no idea before i was told. Its not like they have a special affect on the people they're around, or that they do anything differently then any other person. They are only there to learn and try to succeed like anyone else, therefore making them neither a factor for positive or negative affect on other children.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority of my classmates above, I think that illegal immigrants in schools k-12 do not affect anyone. I think that it is important for these students to come into our school system if they are here, after all, it is not thier fault that their parents brought them to the US illegally. By allowing these students in our school system we are like Jess said, opening our worldview and we are allowing our younger generations in grades k-12 to be come more tollerant of other cultures and races. A downside of allowing illegal immigrants into our school system is that we are paying for children that are here wrongfully. The language barrior may be harder for teachers to teach, and it may take longer to teach material, which may be unfair to other students in the classroom and the teacher. I do think that this is bad but in this case, I think that there are more positives of allowing students k-12 in our school systems.
ReplyDeleteI think having illegal immigrants in our k-12 classes could go either way. I think having immigrants in those classes would be great, as it makes class more diverse. Not to mention, it makes the kids more open-minded about all the different races and ethnicities. The only thing I have against this is the fact that they are ILLEGAL immigrants. I hate to think that our tax-payers' money is going to people who don't even have the right to be here. On the other hand, being here illegally is more than likely not the kid's fault, so it would probably be fair to let him get a public education through grade 12. All in all, it is a two sided argument that will have good arguments coming from both sides. My vote would be let them attend public school until they get out of high school.
ReplyDeleteHaving illegal immigrants in k-12 classes could have both a positive and a negative affect. With an increase in students comes an increase in teachers do to the student-teacher ratio. This would open up more job opportunities. But, with more kids in the class, tax payers will have to pay more to support school budgets for necessary school supplies. Also, kids will be introduced to all different cultures and experience new languages and have a first hand experience with somebody from a different country. It could also be a distraction though; if a student doesn't speak English then it might be distracting if another teacher has to translate for them. It could also cause a lot of commotion and uprise from parents against their children going to school with illegal immigrants. This topic has many different sides and can have both a positive and negative affect on not only a school, but also a community as a whole.
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