Should Illegal Immigrants Have Access to Public Schools, Essay Example

Problems of illegal immigration in the USA become the more complicated the more complicated the social structure grows. Being tightly bound with social life, a common citizen contributes his time, skills and money to the society he or she belongs to in order to get from it emergency medical treatment, education, insurance and guarantees to be safe and sound, to be protected from criminals and to be sure in his or her rights. Illegal immigrants are involved in only few spheres of life: they do often some unskilled work, consume goods and services, but forbear from paying taxes. The problem would not be so serious if the number of immigrants were not growing all the time. Dee Ann Campbell notices in her article that according to U.S. Center for Immigration as of 2004 there were some 34 million of both legal and illegal immigrants, 1.1 million of them were undocumented students enrolled in public schools across the country as the law obligate schools to educate all the children of immigrants without regard to immigration status. This number is already big enough to start discussion whether illegal immigrants do harm to American society and whether their children should have access to public schools or not.

States usually regulate the type of person who may immigrate by using a special point system that favors applicants with desired characteristics. These typically include the ability to speak the native language, work skills, educational achievement, and propensity to obey the law (Adam B. Cox , Eric A. Posner). If an applicant meets these requirements he or she gets a chance to be a desirable person. As developed countries need generally people who will contribute to the society, they reject those whose skills are not good enough to turn an immigrant into effective taxpayer.

Illegal immigration is the problem itself. Having no skills to meet legal immigration requirements people all the same try to move to the country while they have problems with job placement or political climate in their own. They leave third world counties to find at least well-paid in comparison with their previous position unskilled work and security. Still it does not mean that their level of life will grow, but they are sure that high developed countries with big population will always need labor power and this is true in a way while there is a number of non-prestigious jobs Americans do not want to set about.

Some immigrants put hopes on educational system and laws, believing that in future their children will be able to get more prestigious job. On one hand, it is hard to blame illegal immigrants as they are following the same dream of prosperity as every person does. On the other hand, the number of them grows so rapidly that it is high time to speak of influence on society. Janet Hook points out that the survey, conducted under the supervision of Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus showed that 81% of respondents consider the problem of illegal immigration important, including 27% who said it was one of the country’s most pressing problems.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found that one-third of Americans want to deny social services, including public schooling and emergency room healthcare, to illegal immigrants (Janet Hook). The reasons of such a dislike may be quite different from simple fear of insecure-looking foreigners and feeling of competition to well-taken economical and social grounds. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 confirmed that yet more people will be welcomed in America not because of their race (Asians, for instance, have traditionally been hindered from entering America) but because of their skills and professions. Good professionals with diplomas soon become integrated in society because of their education, competence in English and strong will to achieve success. But those who fly from their own countries are aimed at simple existence; they are interested only in money, living conditions and some services. Illegal immigrants do often odd job; they do not speak state language and are not going to learn it. Here is the first reason for allowing illegal immigrants access to public schools. Deprived of communication neither parents nor their children have any chances to become integrated in new society.

Mark Krikorian points out that children of immigrants are inherently unintelligent because they have too little interaction with their parents or any other adults; the parents have very little education and work multiple jobs at very low wages, so the children spend most of their time parked by babysitters in front of the television. It means that in the future these children will hardly be able to make progress in school, but if they do not go there, they will be excluded by successful and prosperous society and, moreover, they will lose all chances to develop spiritually. May be, if these children, who do not know neither their native language nor English properly, have access to public schools, they will be able to enter American society while their unintelligent parents cannot provide them with traditions and culture of their native country.

This decision gives benefit not only to immigrants themselves but to American society as well while people without upbringing and education are more often inclined to commit crimes. According to the mentioned above survey, 30% of all polled connect illegal immigration with the growth of crimes. If it is not true people all the same consider immigrants dangerous just because of their appearance and manners. And if the citizens and the foreigners never meet in routine life the first one still will have prejudice. Allowing children of illegal immigrants to public schools does not mean that the problem will be eliminated at the same time, but at least American society will not be split affectedly.

Immigrant communities become a common phenomenon. Artificial states in state only deepen disaffection between two different types of society and even if laws stop one day all illegal immigration, the population of immigrants will continue naturally grow, so some measures in this boundary merging should be taken.

In spite of these undoubtedly telling arguments one can often hear the idea that public schools are available to all citizens who pay taxes and those immigrants who do not contribute to educational system have no rights to use public schools. Allowing illegal immigrants access to public school takes money away from education for native-born children. Those who do not contribute to country they enter must not live in it – or they are to be conscientious citizens and do what other people do.

Dee Ann Campbell brings a purely economical reason of allowing illegal immigrants to public schools. She writes that without education children would grow up with only a limited knowledge of English and no job skills, making it nearly impossible for them to become productive taxpayers. Yet their parents do not pay fines, but tendencies are to be considered. There are too many illegal immigrants to leave them alone. Involving them in a productive life one could hope that one day their children repay for all they get.

But as the number of immigrants – both legal and illegal – is really huge, people are afraid to be in competition with persevering foreigners. Citizens are already suffering because of difficulties in finding job and do not feel like competing with qualified immigrants. David Simcox in his Immigrants in the Economy, the Schools and Higher Education writes that European and some Asian immigrant groups (particularly Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese), aided by years of schooling comparable to or better than natives, are doing well indeed in the U.S. economic race. This concerns more legal immigration. And the fact that professionals struggle for better life in their own high developed democratic country with strangers can not but reduces optimism. Meanwhile citizens without higher education suffer from illegal immigrants, because fear of deportation for themselves and their families makes potential illegal students think about no higher education, but even if they are lucky to overcome these barriers, they may face another problem – finances, while undocumented immigrants are ineligible for any type of federal aid, grants or other government assistance to fund their education (Should Undocumented Immigrants Have Access to In-State Tuition?). Thereby, unqualified work is also to be fought for.

Several reasons pro et contra are not able to give a definite answer should illegal immigrants have access to public schools or not. Society could have compassion to those who was forced to leave their native countries on economic and political reasons, but undocumented strangers overcrowded American society making it unable to provide everyone with education, health services and work. On one hand, the USA should withstand uncontrolled illegal immigration more effectively. On the other, it should prevent the growth of illegal immigrants inside the country by Americanizing those who are living here for a long time or was born here, because uneducated people can be not only unqualified workers but potential criminals. Looking after illegal immigrants children and allowing them access to public schools could help them to become taxpayers – firstly, and simply happy and wise people – secondly, while their uneducated parents are not able to teach them properly. Though there is a great discontent with laws guaranteeing education to everyone (while American citizens are practically gift these chances to immigrant children) there is a hope that someday they will benefit.

Works Cited

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. 4 Oct. 2003. 10 Apr. 2009. <http://www.historicaldocuments.com/ImmigrationActof1965.htm> Center for immigration studies.

David Simcox. Immigrants in the Economy, the Schools and Higher Education.  10 Apr. 2009. <http://www.cis.org/articles/1996/simcox.html> American Association of State Colleges and Universities

Should Undocumented Immigrants Have Access to In-State Tuition? Jun. 2000. 10 Apr. 2009. <http://www.aascu.org/policy_matters/pdf/v2n6.pdf>

By Dee Ann Campbell. “Public schools must follow no questions asked’ policy for illegal immigrant students.”The Choctaw Sun. 23 Feb. 2007. 9 Apr. 2009. <http://www.epaperplus.com/archive/2-23-07/A04.pdf>

Mark Krikorian. “Alingual Education. Young Victims of Mass Immigration.” National Review. 13 June 2002. 9 Apr. 2009 <http://www.cis.org/articles/2002/markoped061302.html>

Adam B. Cox , Eric A. Posner. “The Second-Order Structure of Immigration Law.” Stanford Law Review. 4 March 2007. 10 Apr 2009. <http://www.questia.com/read/5020187677?title=The%20Second-Order%20Structure%20of%20Immigration%20Law>

Janet Hook. “1 in 3 would deny illegal immigrants social services. “ Los Angeles Times. 6 Dec. 2007. 10 Apr. 2009 <http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-immigpoll6dec06,1,1337412.story?coll=la-politics-campaign>