journal:

What Do They Want?

By Jonathan Feaster

2006-04-19

For a few weeks now the debates among law makers about U.S. immigration reform have continued while illegal immigrants and their supporters have been marching and going to rallies in protest of the issue. Houston Mayor Mayor Pro-Tem / City Council Member Carolyn Alvarado, who has organized such rallies in the Houston area (and who is currently under investigation by authorities for Houston City Hall bonus scandals) called the groups participating in these events "The Sleeping Giant". The issue has become so important that its importance apparently exceeds the importance of education as students have been bussed and led by their school teachers to such events all at the cost of tax payer dollars and the even heavier cost of precious education. With all of the hoopla I have to wonder what it is that these people want at the expense of such valuable resources? Do they even know what they want?

Do they want to be Americans?

It was only after substantial criticism that these groups began to actually fly the U.S. flag along with other foreign flags. These people should have studied the concept of "know your audience" before they left the U.S. flag at home. Maybe they're just proud of their cultural roots? I know that you should be proud of where you come from but if I truly wanted to go somewhere I think I'd take even more pride in where I was going; unless, of course, I wasn't really planning to go there. I had a conversation with my uncle not long ago at a family gathering and we were talking about our German ancestors in our family, specifically his parents, who had immigrated to the U.S. decades ago. He told me that when he was a boy there was a fight between two boys at school. Apparently in the heat of rivalry they had gotten into a fight because one boy was Irish and the other was British. When my uncle had gone home he told his father about the event and then he asked his father, "What am I?". His father replied, "You are an American, Son." After this story my uncle also added that though they were proud of their heritage the children in the neighborhood were forbidden by their parents to speak anything other than English. It seems that learning English would make it easier for them to compete in the U.S. job market when they became working adults. It's true and my uncle is living proof of that fact.

Maybe these people are just not sure of where they are going?

If you aren't learning the basics in the classroom how are you going to learn how to deal with the responsibility that comes with being a decent American citizen? How are you going to compete with your fellow citizens? One High School student who was participating in the protests stated that "America is about the right for people to have a better life". You have to be able to work for a better life and you have to be able to compete for that work as well. The only other option is to take from others. When students are given the signal that it's okay to skip class for protests and use tax payer resources to fund such activities I fear that what they are learning is that America is about the right for people to have a better life at the expense of others. Of course, America is not about the right for people to have a better life at the expense of others. If you think otherwise you shouldn't have missed classes when they discussed the United States Constitution (If the teachers are even including it in the curriculum anymore.). As for the teachers, the more important question may be that if you aren't planning to actually teach students what you are supposed to be teaching them then why are you still an employed teacher? In my profession if I should fail to deliver on my word it could literally be a fatal mistake... termination would be a light punishment. Have we, the employers, been too light for too long on the public education system? Maybe we should start demanding for what we pay for, a refund; or at least stop paying the bills and patronize someone who does stay on task.