The battle of immigrant education has been an on going debate. Many citizens feel that their tax paying dollars should not be used to educate immigrants or the children of immigrants. It is reported that over 2 billion dollars is spent each year to educate the 400 thousand illegal-immigrant children in Texas alone. Apart from the amount of money that is being spent, citizens are concerned with the type of influence Latino immigrants bring to the public schools and more importantly, their children. It is believe that all immigrants regardless of their culture should speak the national language of America, which is English, and assimilate into the culture leaving their native customs at the border. Nevertheless, some public schools have gone as far as accommodating these immigrants making their public school a bilingual environment. This is primarily true for urban schools where the vast majority of students are black, Latino, and rarely white. We see an infinite amount of Latinos in rural areas amongst black Americans because of their economic standing. Latino’s enter or migrate into such areas because it cost less to uphold and there are a collective amount of Latinos in similar communities. However, Latinos are not the only group immigrating to the United States, but they seem to be the ones that are targeted more frequently. In direct comparison to Asian immigrants, they seem to have a community based services and funding publically and privately. “The key difference appears to be that Asian children have greater access to a wider range of after-school activities, both privately owned and publically funded, in their neighborhood than Hispanic children.”7
It was once suggested that the easiest way to eliminate immigrants is to simply deport them, or repatriate them to their country of origin. Doing so would only hurts the future of immigrant's children who are unable to complete grade levels, and are deprived of a solid American education. For instance, statistics show that Latinos consistently display below average performance in reading and mathematics. In higher education, only 63 of 100 Latinos graduate from high school, and a frightening 11 of every 100 Latinos receive a Bachelor’s degree.8
There have been several bills or proposals that have been brought to the government in attempts to save US citizens tax dollars. In 1982 the state of Texas wanted to start charging tuition for the education of illegal-immigrants, soon after proposal the Supreme Court ruled that Texas could not charge tuition to children who were not legal residents of Texas. The emergence of a 1994 petition by republican congressman Dick Mountjoy titled, Proposition 187(a Californian proposition which denied illegal immigrants the rights to public services such as: healthcare, education, and social services) was supposedly the only way to save the state of immigrants and unnecessary government spending. This bill alone inspired similar bills in: Illinois, New York, Florida, and Texas. All of which did not make it.
Spanish is seen as a big part of education, and is one of the most popular languages taught in high schools.
To prevent immigrants from being educated in United States is Un-American. America is suppose to be a melting pot accepting of all ethnicities. Instead of degrading immigrants, citizens should assist in accommodating them without forcing them to assimilate leaving their culture behind.
