In the next 20 years, the schools in need of the most help may not be the schools in inner cities like Newark or Detroit. Instead, they may be in far-flung suburbs and exurbs, where immigrants are flocking in increasing numbers, according to new projections from the U.S. Census Bureau.
We've known for a while that the new immigrant frontier was in the suburbs, but are education officials and reformers paying attention? Hispanics are the fastest growing suburban group, and, as the New York Times pointed out today,
"Graduation rates for blacks and Hispanics -- the overwhelming majority of all immigrants in the United States -- are far below those for whites. The trend line therefore suggests that the country will be facing a growing shortage of educated Americans as global competition intensifies, particularly as other countries' graduation levels rise."
Suburban schools will increasingly need to grapple with the needs of immigrant students, many of whom may not speak English when they arrive in school and who are more likely to live in low-income families than their white counterparts. It could be easier for suburban school districts, with their more manageable sizes, to adjust to newcomers. One might also hope that these demographic shifts suggest a move toward more desegregated school environments -- a plus, since immigrant students have been shown to perform better in desegregated schools.
But the data suggest that living patterns are not necessarily getting more integrated, and many schools are already struggling with how best to serve these students. Their current problems provide a grim glimpse of the future.
It's unclear if strategies currently being tried in urban school settings will work in suburban settings. (In many cases, it's an open question as to whether they're even working in urban settings.)
Do charter schools and school choices make sense in these smaller, less dense districts? Will the districts be able to afford interventions like preschool and alternative high schools when faced with decreasing tax bases? Will they want to do so in places where voters decide whether to vote the school budget up or down? Will it be harder to attract good teachers and school leaders and cull bad ones in the relative isolation of a suburb?
There are examples of suburban districts that have managed well; Montgomery County, outside Baltimore, is one of them. Discussions about what works best and what doesn't work in struggling suburban schools are pretty rare, however. I suspect they'll become more common in the very near future.
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Another dishonest huffpost article that (no doubt intentionally) fails to make any distinction between legal and illegal immigration. Let's be clear here: this is far more likely to be the profile of an illegal alien student rather than a legal immigrant student. Children of legal, employment-based immigrants often learn at least a little English in their home countries and they are certainly not low-income. Legal, family-based immigrants might fit the profile outlined by the author but the solution here is to reform the immigration system to favor skills, language and education above family connections, not just continually throw more and more resources at the "problem".
Importing poverty is bad social policy. The sooner America realizes this and moves to some sort of points-based immigration system (like the rest of the Western world!), the sooner the system will cease to be broken.
It seems people forget that a great deal of land on the borders and many states on the borders have always had Hispanic/Latino/Indigenous populations (even after we "won" wars). There is an old axiom "we did not cross the border, the border crossed us." People in the US have always spoken Spanish, and a wide array of other languages.
The notion that Hispanics/Latinos etc do not attempt to learn English is not borne out by any credible research. I do not see any comments from the xenophobic comments made on the board that cites any juried research: just talking points.
Poverty is the problem, not the language. As urban areas become more and more gentrified, and as Anglo elites come back into the cities, the poor and working classes move further into the suburbs. But, what does that mean? We cannot speculate.
We can discuss ESL programs and immersion programs, but, we cannot speculate in terms of what might happen to small suburban districts or use it as a call for charter schools (which was subtly placed into the original article). We can speculate: how can we educate all of our children, both Immigrant and those born in the USA. We cannot speculate if students are documented or undocumented that is not the responsibility of educators. Our responsibility is to educate all of the children. That is the purpose of public schooling.
Many of these arguments replicate historical arguments. There was once an argument in the midwest surrounding if German or English ought to be the language for the schools. In 1751, Benjamin Franklin complained about the “Palatine Boors” who were trying to Germanize the province of Pennsylvania and refused to learn English. In the late 1800's and early 1900's these same arguments were presented in terms of ethnic groups flooding into the Northeast, including Eastern Europeans, Italians and Jews from Eastern Europe who spoke Yiddish. Including the same sort of racialized xenophobic comments. And, of course how can we not take into account the fear of the Chinese and the Chinese exclusion act of 1882. Because contained specifically in the arguments was both xenophobia and a fear of labor domination. It was these fears of labor, language, and cultural domination that led to restrictive immigration acts. The same restrictive acts which btw sent many Jews to their death during WW2: does anyone here recall the ship of fools?
I can give example upon example of this, but, it seems people forget -- immigration happens. continued
No human being is ever illegal. A person is not an action. And, the action of which you speak is a misdemeanor, of the same ilk as jaywalking.
Captain Ron: there is no problem. The only problem is hyperbole and xenophobic fears raised at times of economic uncertainty.
While the stories of educating the children of illegal aliens are heartwarming, I prefer to "Stop Illegal Immigration. Let's keep our foreign aid FOREIGN!"
My personal opinion is that change is good. Diversity is eye-opening. Multi-lingualism is a plus, not a negative. Our school district adapted and the school I work at (75% ESOL, 85% free/reduced lunch) doesn't have an achievement gap--we know how to meet the needs of our students and we do so, every day. Other schools in the district just now getting an influx of more non-English/low-income students are struggling, but they'll eventually adapt too. A lot depends on the staff--if you have teachers who are open to, and willing to learn how to meet the needs of, students they've never had before, the school will be fine. If you have whiners (and, fellow teachers, I love you, but teachers are a whiny bunch--probably because they need to pay us what we're worth, but I digress), the school will struggle.
HELL NO. Why do you think Hawaii was the only state west of the Mississippi to get Race to the Top funding? Because the school reform plans that are popular in Washington and used in urban areas (firing teachers wholesale, closing schools) are NOT GOING TO WORK with areas where the population density is not there. How is closing a high school going to work when that high school is the only one in the school district? How are they going to attract new teachers to an area that might pay half as much as you might get on the East Coast?
One thing that I've come to realize when I was younger was that for all that our educational institutions cannot do, we as members of our community have to find ways to do the rest. My foster father in the mid 90's created a non profit organization called RHAA that worked to tutor those hispanic families who had never had the experience of getting a child to apply to and attend college. He created a service where one was needed, and as a result many hispanics that otherwise would not have had the guidance to make it into or through college did.
So politicians don't care, the government doesn't care. The parents are either working, unemployed and worried, depressed, some are addicted to drugs or tv or anything to uplift their moods and just hopeless. They depend on the government, you know the one that starts wars with third world countries, give tax breaks to the rich, deny medical care to those uninsured, yes that government-- to educate their chidren. The children are left to fend for themselves. It may have started in the poor schools but the attitudes are so pervasive it is inevitable it would spread to the suburbs.
The rich, however, can afford to protect their children.
Oh and instead of worrying about the non English descending on our schools how about teaching our kids to speak Spanish, I bet being bilingual is a better skill to have than a degree in economics or marketing.
How kind of you to do this to them!
I've had Americans deny that cultures can be different. It is not possible for them to even imagine such a possibility.
Nothing like hubris, arrogance and ignorance to keep one trumpeting American exceptionalism.
Some conservatives I know are certain that Europe is full of homeless people slowly moving from place to place searching through garbage and dreaming of coming to America for our fabulous healthcare and generous welfare.
I have spent many a meal in small town diners as well big city restaurants listening to discussions and arguments among the locals.
There are pockets of intellect in this country but on the whole the ignorance and arrogance is broad and wide.
I wish it were otherwise but it is not.
Once I again I must say that I wish it were otherwise. It is not easy to point out that America's educational system is badly broken by the ones who refuse to support it. America's future lies in its education and human resources. All too often its children leave school without much of an education. Basic skills like math, writing and reading comprehension are left untaught. Yet I am not to point out the obvious.
I have had many Americans explain to me that Europe is cesspool of misery and illness because they are not like this nation. Perchance you believe this be so also.
I don't know who deleted comments or why. I have no idea why someone censors comments or what criteria they use. I am aware that some people use this media to vituperate massively and pointlessly but they are I hope few and far between.