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US Schools Brace for Flood of Central American Immigrant Students Saturday, 26 Jul 2014 01:16 PM By Sandy Fitzgerald

Big Al
July 26, 2014

I know that we are mandated by God to help others and I really  don’t have any problem with that.  I  believe that in the case of the illegal immigrants,  who were probably sent here under questionable  pretenses, there are other way to help  them rather than simply let them into our schools where most will adversely affect existing students.

Sending the kids back makes all the sense in the world to me as does identifying the “originators” and “managers” of this movement and punishing each and everyone to the full extent of the law.

Here is what Newsmax has to say:

At least 30,000 migrant Central American students are heading to classrooms across the country this fall, bring low levels of education that will bring down classroom averages, and overwhelm already struggling school districts, educators are warning.

The Obama administration announced earlier this month that some 30,340 foreign youths and children had been distributed, with the bulk, 4,280, remaining near where they crossed the southern border in Texas, reports The Daily Caller

Other high numbers of students headed to Virginia, which received 2,234 youths, Maryland, with 2,205, North Carolina, with 1,191, and New Jersey, getting 1,504. 

Even more students may be showing up in the classrooms, with more than 100,000 migrants being distributed nationwide. 

In many cases, such students have “very, very limited amounts of education [and] in some cases, they cannot count to 10,” Caroline Woodason, assistant director for student support at the public schools in Dalton, Ga., told The Dalton Daily Citizen. “They can’t turn on a computer. They’ve never even seen a computer. Also, they, in most cases, cannot speak English or Spanish.”

The students instead speak Mam or another language that is specific to their home regions, and Woodason said there is no way they can participate in U.S. history, biology, or other high school courses without special preparation.

By law, high school students may remain in school until they are 22 years old. Dalton officials have formed a “Newcomer Academy” at one school to help deal with the Central American students’ challenges. To qualify, students must prove to be non-proficient in English and three years behind academically.

Education specialist Robin Hambly in Fairfax, Va., told The Washington Post  “teachers [are] dealing with children not just learning English but years below expected grade/achievement level.” Early this year, her school district had 5,192 Central American students, up 22 percent since 2011. 

And many of the students are facing more than just academic challenges, said Hamby.

The youths are escaping harrowing journeys to come north to escape lives filled with gang violence and poverty in their home countries, and are struggling.

“These kids were homesick and heartbroken,” said Hamby. 

“There’s no way a [foreign] child is going to be able to come to school ready and able to learn if we don’t address some of the other issues they’re facing,” Debra Duardo, executive director for human services for the Los Angeles Unified School District, told the Chicago Tribune.  

But educators are finding that the foreign-born students are, in most cases, appreciative of their opportunity to learn and find a safe haven in America’s classrooms.

“I haven’t learned much here, but know with the school I will learn,” Marlon, a 16-year-old Honduran who arrived in February, told the Tribune. The boy’s name was withheld because of his age, and he now lives with relatives in the New Orleans area.

Speaking Spanish, Marlon said that so far, he hasn’t “learned much here, but know with the school I will learn. I think it’s good to learn English here. If the judge allows me to stay, I can get a job if I speak English, and opportunity.”

 

Discussion
12 Comments
    Jul 26, 2014 26:06 PM

    ‘Camp of the Saints’ in action.

    We have MANY responsibilites, and ‘helping others’ is ONLY one of those. To forgot that is itself immoral.

    Jul 26, 2014 26:26 PM

    Of course, why would any person in their right mind not realize that very obvious point?

    Jul 26, 2014 26:37 PM

    The US was a beacon of light for the rest of the world, if you are suppressed come here we will look after you, unfortunately since the rest of the world understands simple language The US has backed itself into an immigration quagmire and now they can’t contain their borders.

    Jul 26, 2014 26:49 PM

    Huge difference between then and now, don’t you think?

    Jul 26, 2014 26:53 PM

    I agree but the huge difference has been created by the success of your country and it’s inability to see it’s failures when it is wrong.

      Jul 26, 2014 26:05 PM

      Now that is a good point.

      Doc’s wife gave me a copy of Epicenter. Ever read it?

    Jul 26, 2014 26:12 PM

    No, but I am always interested in the future, not the one in twilight zone but the future where we live on as a species, although I feel that we as a species we are the first to engineer out own decline.

      Jul 26, 2014 26:41 PM

      The book is written by Joel Rosenberg and it is a great read!

    BJ
    Jul 27, 2014 27:26 PM

    Nothing new here…and the neocons blame the teachers for the bad test scores. Really, I mean really, let’s get real.

    The illegals are placed in grade levels s based on age, not academic achievement; and many illiterate and can’t speak English. Now come the neocons blaming the teachers–the teachers who suffer under the same bad public policies that created this mess. Now American children must move over and share the same classrooms and learn at the same pace as the illiterate illegal aliens. …And who pays for this, not just in tax dollars, but in every way. Think America would’ve been better off lining up our tanks along our southern borders and rolling them all the way to Panama to clean up the corrupt governments of Central America that cause their populations to flee north. That would’ve of accomplished a whole lot more good than Bush’s misadventures into the Middle East, specifically Iraq–a complete disaster that has yet to play itself out

      Jul 28, 2014 28:50 AM

      Hard to disagree with you BJ

    News….Spanish educated with masters degrees without jobs ,50% unemployment in youths.
    WE need to import some to these types of SPANISH SPEAKING PEOPLE, educated with ideas, not poverty..