Advanced Degree Visas...Solution or Bigger Problem?

 

Immigration is obviously not an easy issue for our Government to “resolve,” nor will it be an easy issue for both parties to come to an agreement. Democrats already began creating more opportunities for our nation’s immigrants who have been living in the United States by passing a part of the Dream Act. With this many students that have graduated High School can now start creating their career, knowing they are going to have an opportunity to work in their field of study. Recently this past Friday the House approved abill that redirects 55,000 visas to those foreign students that are studyingscience, engineering and math in the United States. Yes, many would think this is a small step to something larger for the rest of our immigrants, but of course it is not that easy. This bill shows why immigration is such a difficult issue for our government.

This bill that was passed allows for students who are studying science, math and engineering; also known as STEM, in the United States to receive a visa, and in certain circumstances allows for the students family to stay in the United States until they are legalized. This bill of course had many different responses to it by both political parties. Some people think that allowing for more students to come from other countries with a visa is a decently good idea, and something positive to strive for. But how can our country allow for more immigrants to come in, if they cannot even legalize those that are already here. Some Democrats argued that the immigration issue shouldn’t be dealt in pieces that it should be done as a whole. While some Republicans argued that this issue is so big, the only way to tackle it is by minimizing it into sections. Point is immigration has to be solved one way or another, but how are we going to achieve that if our government won’t really discuss the issue. Is taking away general diversity visas to give more visas to those that are studying that awful, or that amazing?

An issue this big isn’t going to be resolved over-night; maybe small steps such as this bill are the just what it takes for there to be a change. For this to happen though, both parties of our government need to discuss the issue and compromise. Maybe giving visas to those foreigners that are studying in math and science isn’t such a bad idea if the genera visas to immigrants aren’t taken away. Our government has a long way to go to make a bigger change in the issue of immigration.

Freedom?

I completely agree with you. Our government is a lot of times idolized by other countries, but it is not what it used to be. Like you said the U.S government is more interested in aliens taxes than in their vote. With this past election we can clearly see that it's a big mistake to not focus on their votes. This election had a huge influence by the hispanic voter turn out. The government can now clearly see that they need to focus on other things besides the taxes, on allowing for these "aliens" to work for what they studied for. The government needs to go back to its freedom roots, and allow for those aliens to feel free, and prosper in this country. Enough is enough, the government and most Americans can see how much of an impact an alien has in this country. They need to let the freedom come back to this country.

Is It Really Freedom?

The United States government has been seen in most foreign eyes as the “ideal government.” With this state of mind many foreigners have decided to leave their home country to come live in what they think is the ideal country. Most of these foreigners are known as illegal immigrants that had to cross the border in harsh conditions because they want a better life. Sure, life in the United States might be better than in their country, but these immigrants are most times limited on what they are allowed to achieve.

We have students that have graduated high school, continued their education in college, received a degree in their field of study, but soon after are stopped from progressing due to the lack of jobs that are available to immigrants. These students for the most part came to the United States as little kids, have been raised to live as Americans, so shouldn’t they receive the same freedom rights as anybody else? And this is where our President Barack Obama gave DREAMers a small victory in their huge battle to pass the Dream Act, “a piece of legislation that would give legalstatus and create a path to citizenship for young immigrants.” These students are now allowed to apply to have a workers permit, and to not be scared of being deported. Yes this is a small step to what these DREAMers want, but they are still very limited to their freedoms.

Our government is allowing these immigrants to pursue a job in their field of study, but still don’t have the right to travel outside the country or to even benefit from Obama Care. This just comes to show that even though many think our government is the ideal government, it sometimes isn’t. Immigration and no rights to actual freedom is just one of many that show our governments true colors. They need to understand that not all Hispanic immigrants are delinquents and that they don’t come to just freely take what many American citizens think is theirs. Immigrants like any other American work for what they want; they work to have a better life than they had in their home country, to offer their families a better life. But how is that ever going to happen if the government limits them so much?

 

What We Need to Do About Civic Education

In The Huffington Post, Peter Lavines blog contained a very interesting post about civic education, or rather the lack of it. He states how 68 percent of young adults don’t even know the rules to voting, thanks to the little education they received in civics. How only 39 states require at least one course in American government, but all 50 states have some sort of standards for social studies; however there are some obstacles that stand in the way of effective education about our government. One of them being how only one class in civics is required; usually at the end of high school education when most students already have “senioritis”. Secondly how this course isn’t really a priority to faculty or students, since there is not standardized test to really see if they learned anything. Only 9 states require for students to pass a history test to graduate, and only 8 of those states require students to pass a civics test in order to graduate. He also says that even though these states require students to pass these tests, it doesn’t really ensure effective learning. Most tests are now only multiple choices, and only require a student to memorize facts; facts that are easily forgotten. Lavine however does recognize that some states actually require students to know how to,” analyze and event, issue, or problem,” in order to successfully pass the course. “In my opinion, these are the outcomes that we want- for the good of our democracy and civil society.” He ends his post by stating how even though all states have standards for social studies; they are all lost with every other subject they have to execute.  How civics classes can help young adults have an interest in news and politics; help them execute knowledgeable arguments. “By that standard we typically fall short.”

I completely agree with Lavine, the same way I agreed with the article in The Christian Science Monitor. Our government doesn't do much to emphasize the importance of civic education in our nation. We can clearly see how it’s not even a priority in the education system. Very little states require students to actually have an effective knowledge about our government. What are the results? Young people lacking knowledge on how to vote. If the education system doesn’t improve things will only get worse. We need states like those few that require actual analysis on events, which actually helps students understand better. “What we expect of ourstudents in civics classes is a good measure of what kind of nation we hope tobe.” I feel that if younger students learn more about civics it will only lead to a better nation, a more educated nation. I think in the end that’s what we really strive for.

 

The threat to American democracy that Romney and Obama aren’t talking about

This article was published by Scott Warren, Iris Chen, and Eric Schwarz in The Christian Science Monitor. Here we read about our public education system, and the lack of its contents. Both president Obama and Governor Romney say they are committed to bettering the public education system. Something our authors think they shouldn’t worry much about, because they don’t really understand what they should be educated on, which is “creating engaged and informed citizens.” Obama and Romney both want to expand educational opportunities; they focus more on getting higher standards, better testing, etc. They do agree that schools have gotten better scores in the past years but they believe that it is a “narrow focus on academics and basic skills.” Their opinion is to teach the younger generations as much about civics as they do about math and science. Getting the younger generations engaged in civic learning will only make our democracy better. They feel that the younger kids get educated on civics and get encouraged to be involved citizens will make them be more involved as they grow up. Involving a lot more civics classes in the education would make a great difference in citizens’ knowledge. "Educational failure puts the United States' future economic prosperity, global position,and physical safety at risk." As the authors said, young people need to become informed, engaged and effective citizens. I completely agree with the authors opinions. Our education system focuses so much on high scores for math and science, and it leaves no room to learn about or government. I myself am pretty good in my math courses, but sometimes I am pretty lost in a government course. Things I should have learned maybe a couple of years ago, I am barely learning now. To be an involved young citizen you need to be an educated citizen, not just on academics but also on civics. If our future president wants to better our education system, they need to not just do it by creating more educational opportunities, but by emphasizing civics education.

Embrace Diversity

"We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions -- bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

 

 

Kanwardeep Singh Kaleka states his opinions about the temple where his uncle was killed. There is a substantial rise in homegrown hate. There have been more attacks from non-islamic U.S citizens, than from islamic U.S citizens. He doesn't want for the nation to just over look this cultural hatreds, because they are not just going to go away. There are at least 1,018 domestic hate groups in the United States because they can't accept different races, cultures or idealogies. The government needs to worry about protecting our freedoms and stoping terrorism in our nation besided those abroad. This article shows us problems that we know are there, but never really bother to take a good look at them. The shooting at this temple received less attention from the president than the shooting in the Colorado theater. It shows how even our leaders are xenophobics.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/19/opinion/kaleka-domestic-terror-hearing/index.html?iid=article_sidebar