Undocumented students, Obama's lesson plan, and dreams deferred

Ron Edmunds/AP Photo

This week, the Consul General of Mexico came to my school to talk to the student body about the importance of pursuing excellence, being bilingual, and serving the community. An inspired address, it brought to light some of the issues facing a significant number of  the 650,000 Mexicans in our state - namely immigrant status. One student, a petite girl of 14, raised her hand to ask the Consul about opportunities for community service.  Her reason? She explained that her father had been deported several weeks ago and that she wanted to be able to help other people in similar situations.  The next day, during a parent conference about a student's nonchalant attitude and failure to complete assignments, it was revealed that his father had also been deported at the beginning of August, a time when most of us are looking forward to new beginnings for our children. These everyday headlines have almost reached an 'acceptable level,' reminiscent of the stories that appeared in the Belfast Telegraph during my childhood in Northern Ireland, stories of Protestant pitted against Catholic, and inequities in housing and education. 

A report by the College Board,  Young lives on hold: the college dreams of undocumented students, reveals that children account for approximately 1.5 million or 15% of the undocumented in this country. Although entitled to a K-12 education, regardless of immigrant status, these children face insurmountable barriers once they graduate from high school. They are ineligible to apply for a driver's license or a Social Security number; further, they are ineligible to apply for the financial aid that would realize the dream of a college education. Sadly, they are often the targets of the vitriol that has characterized the immigration debate here in Arizona. No sympathy for them in spite of the fact that they have done nothing wrong. 

So is it any wonder that President Obama's address to children has come under such attack?  In a state where immigrant children are punished for the well-intentioned dreams of their parents, is anyone really surprised by the response to Obama's back to school speech? Shocked by State Superintendent of Instruction, Tom Horne's remarks that Obama's lesson plans "call for a worshipful rather than critical approach?" Seriously?

Can we just be sensible? Like Consul Flores' speech to my students, Obama's speech is littte more than an eloquent pep talk about the importance of studying hard and staying in school.  No different than that delivered by my teachers and me every day. Why the controversy? Where was a similar outcry on September 11, 2001, when former President Bush addressed the students of Booker Elementary School?  Or when Ronald Reagan, in 1988, responded to questions from middle school students. 

As an educator in Arizona, I see the goal-setting activity in Obama's lesson plan as a valuable one that is aligned to the Education and Career Action Plan that the class of 2013 is required to complete. The lesson also encourages and promotes the use of technology, encouraging students to create a video in which they explain why education is important and how it can help them achieve their dreams.  Except students can only achieve their dreams if they have the documentation necessary to do to so. As an immigrant and as an educator, I  admit to being distressed by the irony of our undocumented students completing the activity, when they know that their goals may not be fulfilled for years after they graduate, in spite of staying in school, studying hard, essentially doing everything 'right.'

Regardless, I know that hope springs eternal as the late Senator Ted Kennedy reminded us, with such passion in 1980, that "for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the dream endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." And that is what will keep our immigrant children in school, pursuing those goals, and chasing the dream of America, one to which we are all entitled.