Right to Public Education for Undocumented Students

 Havell Markus

Dr. Allison Parker

ENG 102

19 June 2014

Does simply being illegal strip you of your human right to education?  Living in Arizona for the past eight years, I have personally noticed a double standard between documented and undocumented students.  Many students and parents discriminate against undocumented children.  After experiencing such incidents, I was not only astounded, but also disappointed in humanity.  I personally believe education is a right every human being owns, and it should be granted to illegal immigrants regardless of their citizenship status.  Therefore, for today’s topic I would like to discuss illegal immigrants and whether they entitled to equal right to public education as American citizens.  To support my argument I will highlight the views of American citizens who support and disapprove of my perspective.  Then, I will conclude my case by citing the constitution to show being documented or undocumented should not restrain children from receiving an education. 

A warning to my readers, the views I am about to mention comes from debate.org and the general public comments on a New York Times article relating to the topic.  Therefore, even though their points might not be valid, I am just aiming to show the common views in order to portray where American citizens stand on this topic.  I will start by mentioning the views of the supporters and then dive into protestors. 

On the article “Are Children of Illegal Immigrants Entitled to a Public Education?”, the commenter Sam A. shares his views as he says, “I think children of illegal immigrants are entitled to an American education because they did not choose to come here. If they were born here, they did not choose that either. They should be entitled to an American education” (Griffee).  According to Sam, it is not just for the schools to judge the children based on their parents’ actions, since they are just the victims.  Another anonymous commenter from debate.org shares, “It is important that these children be educated in order for them to take part and play a role in our society by becoming a productive, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen. Having the privilege of being an active member of our society when they have reached adulthood will allow them to contribute not only to our society, but to our economy as well and to do otherwise would be counterproductive”.  According to this commenter, granting illegal children the right to education is for the betterment of the society, since they would able to receive the skills to pay back the society for all the opportunities they have previously received.  Both of these comments sum up the overall debates that most American supporters share regarding illegal children’s right to American public education. 

Quote that seeks to eliminate the blame of
 illegal children's for their parents actions. 

            In contrast, the American citizens who oppose this notion share a complete different set of thoughts.  An anonymous commenter on debate.org shows his/her opposition by saying, “They are ILLEGAL immigrants. While I do believe everyone has the right to get an education, they do NOT have a right to get an education in America. If they want an education do it in their country where they are a LEGAL citizen.”  According to this commenter, even though these children own the right to education, they do not own that right in a foreign land where they entered illegally.  This places them on a similar level as criminals, who do not share similar rights as other citizens.  Another anonymous commenter on debate.org states, “Never their parents do not pay tax, why should we pay for their education?”  According to this commenter, it is unfair to legal citizens since undocumented children are like parasites that feed on free resources.  These resources could be used on other measures.  These two comments shape the general views of American citizens who oppose illegal children’s right to education in America. 

Quote that highlights the ruling of Plyler vs. Doe case.

            Now that we have developed the general idea of the American populous that approves or objects to illegal children’s right to American public education, let’s see what the American foundation, the Constitution, has to say.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler vs. Doe in 1982.  It stated that undocumented children and young adults are entitled to attend public primary and secondary school just as U.S. citizens and permanent residents (“Public Education for Immigrant Students” 1).  The Plyler vs. Doe was defended on a constitutional basis.  The court said, “By denying these children a basic education we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation” (“Public Education for Immigrant Students” 1).  Furthermore, the Court also stated holding children liable for their parent’s illegal actions “does not comport with fundamental conceptions of justice”  (“Public Education for Immigrant Students” 2).  Additionally, to answer the opposition views, the court stated, “Even if barring one group of children from schools was likely to improve the overall quality of education, the school district would still have to justify applying the prohibition to undocumented children” (“Public Education for Immigrant Students” 2).  Therefore, even if evidence existed that showed incorporating undocumented students in American public school lowered the quality of American children’s education, the courts decision would have been similar.  This shows the court does not believe that allocating American resources towards illegal children significantly effects American public education.  Thus, through the case Plyler vs. Doe the American government constitutionally addresses all the concerns of supporters and protestors by granting the right to American public education to undocumented children. 

Book by Michael A. Olivas that
supports undocumented children's
right to American Education

            As directed by the American Government and Constitution, every human being deserves the right to education regardless of citizenship status.  I mention this fact not only to validate my stance on this notion, but also to show the American citizens who hold contrasting viewpoints.  Everyone is entitled to his or her stance and voice.  I respect and acknowledge where the opposition comes from.  However, today, through discussing this topic, I wish to change the way many students and some parents view undocumented children.  I do not expect the people who disapprove to completely accept the undocumented children, but I do expect them to show their respect to these children.  The measure their parents took to provide their children a better future, serves as a testimony to how much they value education.  Though it might not be ethical for them to break laws to meet personal ends, we, as human being, still carry a moral obligation to other people.  Does giving opportunity and hope to an underprivileged really hurts our pockets?  If we were placed in their shoes, would we not take the same measures to secure the happiness of our children?  I leave my readers today with these questions, so they could contemplate on these thoughts. 

Work Cited:

Griffee, Susannah L. "Are Children of Illegal Immigrants Entitled to a Public Education?" The Learning Network: Are Children of Illegal Immigrants Entitled to a Public Education Comments. The New York Times, 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/are-children-of-illegal-immigrants-entitled-to-a-publiceducation/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&_r=0>.

"Should Illegal Immigrants Be Allowed to Get an Education in the U.S.?" The Premier Online Debate Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-illegal-immigrants-be-allowed-to-get-an-education-in-the-u-s>.

"Public Education for Immigrant Students: States Challenge Supreme Court's Decision in Plyler v. Doe." Immigration Policy Center. American Immigration Council, 15 June 2012. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/public-education-immigrant-students-states-challenge-supreme-court%25E2%2580%2599s-decision-plyler-v-do>.

Education and Child Marriage

Havell Markus

Dr. Allison Parker

ENG 102

18 June 2014

A National Geographic article shows child brides.

Several decades have passed since many southeastern Asian countries — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka — passed the law against child marriage; however, the practice continues today.  In my previous blog posts, I have highlighted many faults of the government and their shorthanded efforts to fulfill the human right to education.  Today, I would like to change the pace, and shed some light upon another stakeholder that plays a primary and more important role than the government to ensure the right to education for every child.  I am talking about parents.  Today, many girls fail to receive education, as they become victims of child marriage.  These girls do not voluntarily choose to marry, but their parents do.  Even though the government of these countries does not do the best job of providing good educational means, the parents still hold a primary obligation to ensure their kids take advantage of the opportunities that are scarcely available.  If parents would not support their children, then who will?  Thus, today I will build on my previous blog posts arguments and show the parents are partially at blame for children not receiving education. 

The graph above shows Asian countries as second
 leading continent with highest prevalence of girls
 getting married before the age of 18.

For those who are not familiar with the concept of child marriage, let me give you a brief overview.  As Ashraf Uddin Ahmed points out in his article “Marriage and Its Transition in Bangladesh”, child marriage has been embedded into southeastern Asian culture since mid nineteenth century (52).  He further highlights the aims of child marriage as he states, “(1) it helps to maintain social stratification in general, (2) it affirms and strengthens parental power over the children, (3) it helps keep the family traditions and value systems in tact, (4) it helps consolidate and extend family property, (5) it enhances the value of the kinship group, (6) it helps young people from getting into the uncertainty of searching mate” (Ahmed 51).  Furthermore, Ahmed mentions the importance of the dowry system, as he says, “Girls are always an economic burden to the parents until their marriage because they cannot contribute to the household income like sons… The amount of dowry or bride price is usually significantly smaller when it is a child-marriage than a youth marriage” (52).  As Ahmed points out, child marriage serves as a dominant part of the culture.  It gives parents an advantage as they cheaply “sell” their daughters at the age of fifeteen or earlier before they invest more money raising them up.  Ahmed aims to inform people about child marriage and its history, and he does an effective job of building the logos of his paper, by providing credible historic facts and deriving logical claims for them.  His paper carries validity and successfully shapes the historican picture of child marriage. 

The graph above shows different southeastern Asian countries
their prevalence of girls getting married before the age of 18.

Now that we all have a general idea of what encompasses child marriage, let me show you why this creates a dilema for achieving the goal of global education.  In order to do so, I would like to higlight a true story of a Bangladeshi girls.  Humaiya Akhter, a 16 year old advocate for girls’ education and child right, presented her views in a meeting at a United Nation conference.  She said, “At the time when girls should be deciding on where to go to university, most girls in my country are deciding on a wedding dress… In my childhood I used to play with dolls. Sometimes I arranged marriages for the dolls. That is how parents treat their daughters — like dolls who have no voice” (Akhter).  She does not face the threat of child marriage since her parents support her and want her to gain an education; however, she fights for the rights of other girls as their voices are bottled up by their parents.  According to her, “Girls who become brides stay uneducated because they must become mothers, caretakers and homemakers, further driving the cycle of poverty and powerlessness… Education helps create opportunities for girls to contribute to family income. If a girl can feed her family, it will help parents rethink the idea that their daughters are a burden” (Akhter).  Akhter’s personal case does an excellent job of capturing the harm childhood marriage causes for not only girls but for the southeastern Asian societies.  Girls become part of a never ending cycle of child bearers, while the societies struggle in the past conservative thoughts.  With her personal testimony and first hand experiences she shows the hopeless state of young married girls, as they have no prospect to education.  Furthermore, she relates the problems of childhood marriage and education to parents and their selfish and uninformed will.  According to her, if other parents were as supportive and liberal as her parents towards their child, every girl would have freedom to gain education.  Education would give them a chance to battle the biases revolving around women and their incapability to survive in the world of men. 

The info-graphic above related different causes of child marriage, and shows education as one.

People say parents always think for their child’s best.  However, in southeastern Asian countries parents are holding on to their daugthers’ happiness by marrying them at an early age.  These parents drown in the ancient vews, and fail to meet the expectation of the modern world.  Through their selfish traditional motives, they choke their daughters’ childhood and education.  They have given up on their daughters’ future, before granting them a chance.  These parents fail to see women are on par with men.  As, Akhter’s persoanl testimony highlights, education is the key for these women to break the chains of traditional expectation.  The right to education these parents obstruct is the tool these girls need to prove and show their parents and the world their endless power, potential, and prestige. 

Works Cited:

Ahmed, Ashraf. "MARRIAGE AND ITS TRANSITION IN BANGLADESH ." International Journal of Sociology of the Family 16.1 (1986 ): 49-59.

Akhter, Humaiya. "Dreaming of More than a Wedding." CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/world/iyw-dreaming-of-more-than-a-wedding/index.html?iref=allsearch>.

Education: Quantity, Quality, or Both?

Havell Markus

Dr. Allison Parker

ENG 102

17 June 2014

What do you think is more important quality or quantity?  The importance of quality or quantity is an old debate topic in our society.  There exists not one sole answer to this question, since it is entirely dependent on the relative situation.  So, in the case of education, is the quality or the number of people getting an education important?  You might say, well both are important.  The more people get quality education the better it is and I agree.  However, today our country, the United States of America, struggles with maximizing quality and quantity of education.  It is great that America has accepted and implemented the human right to education, since every child has an equal and free opportunity to attend primary and secondary schools.  Yet, even after granting such an opportunity they fail to provide quality education in many schools across the nation.  Therefore, even if a lot more children have an access to education, they are not receiving quality education.  Thus, I argue the human right to education should not only focus on quantity, but also quality of education promised. 

A balance demonstrating Quantity vs. Quality

            To begin my case, first I would like to show my readers the existence of the problem relating to the quality of education in America.  A recent article on CNN titled “Radical Steps for Struggling Schools” pointed out, “the Kansas City school board approved a plan to close 29 out of its 61 public schools” in order “to fight the poor quality of education there – quality so poor that the Superintendent says diplomas given to graduates 'aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on’” (Phillips).  29 out of 61 public school is almost half of the school being closed due to poor quality education.  Furthermore, the Superintendent’s statement hits the bull’s eye as he says the diplomas are not worth anything.  This shows even after attending high school for four long years, student’s time involved did not equate to anything.  To build on my argument, I will like my readers to watch the President Barack Obama’s presidential speeches (CLICK HERE TO BE REDIRECTED TO THE VIDEO) as it highlights the severe situation with the education quality in America.  He says, “We are being outpaced by other nations.  It is not that their kids are any smarter than ours; it is that they are being smarter about how to educate their children.  They are spending less time teaching things that do not matter and more time teaching things that do.  They are preparing their students not only for high school or college but for a career, we are not.  Our curriculum for eighth graders is two full years behind top performing countries. That is a prescription for economic decline… 4^th grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming and they are getting the same grade.  8 of our states are setting their standards so low that their students may end up on par with roughly the bottom 40% of the world.”  I am not promoting Obama and his views on how to fix education, since everyone shares a different opinion on that subject matter, but I am focusing on the facts he shares to highlight the poor quality of education in America and its consequence.  He carries his argument effectively to show American citizens that quality of education needs to be improved.  He successfully builds his ethos as a respected politician and influential figure running for future president.  He also perfectly builds the logos and pathos of his argument through showering his audience with sentimental and attention grabbing facts.  Thus, through these two reliable sources it is evident that education in America lacks quality, even though education is available to everyone. 

            Now you might be wondering even though the human right to education guarantees free primary education and makes higher education equally accessible to every child, it does not say anything about providing quality of education.  This dilemma is tackled through simple deductive reasoning.  In my previous post I mentioned education serves as an “enabling” right, which helps human beings fulfill their naturally entitled right to life, liberty, and happiness.  Therefore, it is intuitive that without quality education, the human educational right fails to meet its purpose as an “enabling” right.  If people do not receive quality education, they would not be about to gain the 21^st century skill set of problem solving, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity required to secure and achieve their natural rights.  The human right to education does not only operate to educate the most amount of people, but it also seeks to grant them quality education.  Thus, the right should instead be called “the human right to quality education” and we need to pull together our collective actions to demand and ensure our government to fulfills their roles of providing quantity along with quality education.

The picture above highlights our government's fight and progress for quality education.

Work Cited:

Phillips, Kyra. "Radical Steps for Struggling Schools." CNN Newsroom RSS. CNN, 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 June 2014. <http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/10/radical-steps-for-struggling-schools/?iref=allsearch>.