Summer Reading ~ Immigrant Kids

Scholastic Summer Reading

Congratulations!  Our class has read over 1400 minutes!  I'm so glad to see that you continue to read :)

Immigrant Kids

The section where I left off reading was At School.  One interesting bit of news happened related to immigrants in the present and education while I was reading this book and it helped me make some text-to-world connections.  In the past, immigrant children went to school and were educated but most didn't make it through primary years or through fifth or eighth grade.  In short, most immigrant children at the time had a very basic level of education.

"Most immigrant families tried to keep their children in school until the age of fourteen, when a youngster could obtain full-time working papers.  But that was not always possible.  During hard times, kids had to drop out of school early.  In the days before World War I, it was an accomplishment to finish grammar school (Freedman p. 13)"

Today, many immigrant children do go to school past high school; however, their opportunity for higher education had been truncated, cut short.  Many immigrant students graduate high school and cannot not enter college.  Or, once they graduate college they cannot not work in their chosen areas because they lack a work permit or cannot obtain one.  Worse yet, there is always the worry about deportation, being sent back to where they came from! 

During my reading, Obama announced a policy directive halting all deportations for young immigrants.  This means that about 800,000 immigrant children may go to school and receive an education without having to worry about being deported or sent back to their home countries.  What's more, once these young immigrants are educated they may seek work and be eligible for work permits! 

“Effective immediately, young people who were brought to the US through no fault of their own as children and who meet certain criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of 2 years and that period will be subject to renewal,” said Janet Napolitano.

  In the future, and thanks to President Obama immigrant youth will have the opportunity to educate themselves and work to contribute to the United States.