POLS 307 Politics of Race & Ethnicity Dr. Sanchez Timothy Sipp 5/5/11
Dare To Dream: Re-packaging the DREAM Act of 2009 for Bi-Partisan Passage
President Obama has stated that in order for the U.S. to stay competitive economically and maintain our National Security interests that America must remain central to global markets. To do this the President insists that we must be, “an America where we out-innovate, we out-educate, we out-build the rest of the world; where we take responsibility for our deficits; where we reform our government to meet the demands of a new age.”(1) To this end the President recommends rectifying great disparities in the education afforded to the fastest growing portion of the American population, illegal-immigrant Hispanic children and young adults.(2) The proposed legislation to increase educational opportunity and attainment in America is the latest version of the DREAM Act, known as H.R. 1751 in the House of Representatives and as S. 729 in the Senate.
The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) was a bipartisan billthat provided a mechanism for illegal-immigrant children to petition for citizenship despite their illegal status because they were at no fault in violating immigration laws due to their age.(3) The bill restricts participants in the program to those children that were fifteen or younger when they immigrated to the U.S. (usually with their parents or guardians). They must also have lived in America for five consecutive years before applying to the program. The final age restriction in the Senate version was that the applicant had to be younger than 35 (reduced to 29 in December 2010 negotiations). The bill further stipulates that upon graduating from high school or completing a GED, that the individual can both apply to and complete an Associate’s degree, or two years of a four-year degree, or join the military for four to eight years of total service. If the military option is chosen, after five years, the person may begin the application to become a citizen. The candidate must be of good moral character and avoid breaking any criminal (drug/felony) laws or risk immediate deportation.(14) Many proponents see this bill as a necessary measure to prevent an entire generation of Hispanic Americans from being excluded from economic and political opportunities while contributing positively to the growth of the nation and refreshing the public coffers due to increased taxation from a larger, more educated (and, therefore, typically better paid) population.(4) The bill’s opponents contend that the bill is little more than another attempt at “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, improperly rewards criminals for committing crime (immigration fraud) and may encourage more illegal immigrants to flock to the U.S. in record numbers and bankrupt an already burdened financial system.(5) A rigorous review of the available data suggests that America’s leaders have little choice other than to find a way to convince Americans that passing similar legislation is in the best interests of the United States of America. The statistics are startling and the consequences of doing nothing appear disastrous. Unless a vehicle to higher education and citizenship is offered to the hundreds of thousands of Hispanic immigrant children in the U.S. today, the nation will continue to suffer from a greatly diminished labor talent pool and overuse of the social services accessed by the poorer portions of the population, weakening us on the world-stage. Eighty-five percent of felons are high school drop-outs and 31% of felons are Hispanic.The question remains; how do we redesign the bill to be more acceptable for bipartisan passage?
Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority in America and have doubled since the 1990s.(6) According to President Obama’s “Winning the Future: Improving Education for the Latino Community” released by the White House Press Secretary in April of 2011, there are over 50 million Hispanics in America equaling about 17% of the population. Latinos account for nearly half of the national population increase between 2000 and 2010 and are projected to comprise 60% of the population growth into 2050.(7) Latinos make up the largest percentage of students in K-12 public schools in America at 22% or roughly 12.4 million students. “Latino students face persistent obstacles to educational attainment. Less than half of Latino children are enrolled in any early learning program. Only about half of all Latino students earn their high school diploma on time; those who do complete high school are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college. Just 13 percent of Latinos have a bachelor’s degree, and only 4 percent have completed graduate or professional degree programs.”(8) Latinos have the highest high school drop-out rate (42%) and are also the largest user of the national community college system; 31% of Hispanics enroll in two-year colleges.(13) This is often due to financial pressures and a familial culture of communal support that leads many Hispanics to study less and work more.(9) As a result of this trend, additional efforts are being dedicated to encourage Hispanic youths to higher education at four-year universities. However, the immediate need for Latinos to get college educations or professional/technical certifications isn’t a strong fit for traditional four-year matriculation vectors that work best when transitioning from high school.(10) The community college system in the U.S. needs to be reformed and reinvigorated with well-trained faculty and creative federal funding to facilitate the education of this large portion of America’s future workforce. That is not to say that increasing Hispanic attainment in the traditional college arena isn’t of great long term importance for younger students planning to attend 4-yr schools, but something must be done to make training available to the large young adult Hispanic population that is looking for a better job in today’s technology driven labor market.(11)
At every stage of education from infancy to retirement, Hispanics fall behind in language and math skills in standardized tests. Half of Hispanics are English Language Learners and are not proficient enough to stay on the learning curves in their classes. Unfortunately, most of these immigrants’ parents are no better off and can’t help their children as much as they would like to. As mentioned above, only half of Hispanic children receive high-quality, center-based early-years education, which is extremely detrimental as studies have shown that good early-years education is the best educational investment one can make in a person. According to President Obama’s administration, “A robust body of evidence and research demonstrates that high quality early learning programs help children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed in school and in life… Later effects of high-quality programs are well documented to improve academic achievement, reduce the need for special education, increase employment and earnings, reduce crime and delinquency, and ultimately increase international competitiveness.” (12) Even though the research shows that early care is paramount for endowing a child with the tools for success, it is still imperative to provide additional educational and training opportunities to the adolescents and young adults for whom early years education is no longer an option. The solution for early-years education should be conceived of with respect to a series of connected quality learning opportunities throughout life.(15) The secondary focus should be on improving the quality of education available at America’s vast network of community colleges.(16)
The DREAM Act doesn’t have provisions for early-years education but it does enable these otherwise worthy, but stranded, young people an opportunity to enjoy all the rights of citizenship after a six year probationary period after the age of eighteen. This legislation incentivizes immigrants to seek higher education and/or perform military service in an effort to “give-back” while receiving value-added training, more fully assimilate into their new national culture and gain citizenship with a higher socio-economic status. This higher SES is both good for the new citizens as well as the state and national governments that receive taxes from them.(17)
More Hispanics than ever are applying to two and four year institutions without completing their desired degree program. Increasing costs are one reason, but perception about real value in education is lacking relative to other groups. Subsequently, Hispanics are less likely to welcome standing debt to acquire an education; that is if they are aware of the financial aid process to receive a loan. Geographic proximity is also a decided factor for Hispanics when choosing where to learn. Community colleges are closer and cheaper to attend.(18)
The most efficient project to provide Latinos access to quality higher education in the U.S. is by re-thinking, and then re-funding the community colleges throughout the country with region-specific plans that cater to the employment opportunities already there or on the development horizon and can add real increases to wages. Places of higher learning that can and do accommodate Spanish speaking peoples (minimum of 25% Latino), both foreign and local-born, are known in educational circles as Hispanic-Serving Institutes or HSIs. HSIs account for 5% of all higher education institutions but service about half of the Hispanics enrolled in post-secondary education. That is the reason that President Obama included $1Billion marked for HSIs in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA) of 2010. (19) The goal is to increase the quality and applicability of Associate’s degrees and professional/technical certifications available to the majority Hispanic community college students and support them to follow through and succeed to potentially get post-graduate degrees.
There is bound to be domestic political wrangling over several if not all aspects of this legislation because it is complex enough to be easily spun by naysayers into “amnesty for criminals and illegal immigrants” and “an open-ended entitlement program that will draw them like flies”.(20) Additionally, there are questions of federalism and state’s rights, the most prescient of which is to not have to pay for another Unfunded Federal Mandate. Obama’s administration avoided much of the fiscal concern by incorporating seed funding for the initiatives by including these educational funds as part of the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) in 2009 and then the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA) of 2010.
Ample resources have been allocated to fund the makeover but region-specific/industry-specific considerations must be made in the planning of Hispanic focused education initiatives. First among these considerations is whether or not the technology-based skill set is a desirable “Green” technology or industry that has a future in the 21st Century that will increase people’s earnings? Second is the question of existing talent pools from which to draw the first generation of gifted instructors and how to incentivize them to teach in a non-tenure track position at a community college? Third is how do educators get Latino youth to want to make science, technology, engineering and math their passion that drives future innovation and provides a self-sustaining pool of descriptive representation at the front of the class in the near future?
The White House has spearheaded the “Educate to Innovate” initiative that has teamed up with the telecom and entertainment/gaming industries to develop tools and channels to engage middle school and high school students and use “the power of media, interactive games, hands-on learning, and community volunteers to reach millions of students over the next four years, inspiring them to be the next generation of inventors and innovators.”(22) This series of programs is poised for success and will depend on participation (creativity and efficacy), not necessarily funding. If these nationwide programs work, a greater portion of Hispanics will seek out STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) which will set the process of self-perpetuation in motion.
One way to attract gifted, mid-career professionals as teachers at community colleges is a form of debt forgiveness similar to the teachforamerica.org project where college loans are paid in exchange for a certain number of years of service in a needy, low income/minority area. If other favorable trends are observed, perhaps other forms of debt-assumption will work as well (opt out of your bad mortgage, move and rebuild your life while you help others do the same, or have the program refinance your house for compensation). Also, with fresh funds and innovative programs and curricula, teaching at community colleges could be realized as an excellent career-boost and tax write-off (part-time instructors).
By working with local and regional industries, government and educators can team-up to retrain the population, not just the Hispanics, add to the stability and prosperity of the country, and not incur the wrath of states whose budgets are already strained. It will take foresight and courage to realize the American Dream for both the immigrants and the nervous, protectionist citizens of the U.S. but to do anything less would be uncivilized and strategically unsound for the general welfare of the Republic. We must find a way to convince the American voting public that it is in their collective best interest to support these concerted efforts at expanding educational access and quality without raising the tuition significantly. Do not depend on Liberal arguments but cold hard accounting to persuade them. According to the Obama Administration and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the DREAM Act would lower the Federal Deficit by trillions of dollars in a decade and pay for itself in the process, while assuring the continued global competitiveness of the U.S.A.
Bibliography
(1) President Obama’s 2011 State of The Union Address. 1/28/11. Taken from http://obama-speech.org/transcript.php?obama_speech_id=4433 on 5/5/11.
(2) http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf
(3) http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/12/08/house-passes-dream-act-immigration-measures Article written on 12/08/10. Taken on 5/5/11.
(4) http://immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/dream-act-supporting-us-economy-creating-opportunities-immigrant-students Taken on 5/5/11.
(5) http://caldwellteaparty.org/2011/01/05/american-spirit-continues-dream-act-summary/ Taken on 5/5/11.
(6) http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf Taken on 5/5/11
(7) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(8) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(9) “Latino Education: A Synthesis” Prepared for the College Board by:Carlos Nevarez, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, California State University, Sacramento. Taken from http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Latino-Education-A-Synthesis.pdf on 5/5/11
(10) “Latino Education: A Synthesis” Prepared for the College Board by:Carlos Nevarez, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, California State University, Sacramento. Taken from http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Latino-Education-A-Synthesis.pdf on 5/5/11
(11) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(12) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(13) http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/7.1.pdf Taken on 5/5/11
(14) http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/dream/DREAM-justfacts-2010-11-23.pdf Taken on 5/5/11
(15) Garcia, F. Chris; Sanchez, Gabriel R. – Hispanics and the U.S. Political System: Moving into the Mainstream. pp. 72-76. 2008. Pearson Education Inc. – Upper Saddle River, NJ
(16) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(17) “Latino Education: A Synthesis” Prepared for the College Board by:Carlos Nevarez, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, California State University, Sacramento. Taken from http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Latino-Education-A-Synthesis.pdf on 5/5/11
(18) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(19) White House Press Secretary, President Obama’s Agenda: Improving Education for the Latino Community, April 2011, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education Taken on 5/5/11.
(20) http://caldwellteaparty.org/2011/01/05/american-spirit-continues-dream-act-summary/ Taken on 5/5/11.
(21) http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education – Progress Section. – Taken on 5/5/11
(22) http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/educate-innovate Taken on 5/5/11