Legislators Need To Be Compassionate

Article #3:

Legislators shouldn't punish immigrant children
By John Florez
Published: February 4, 2008—Deseret News

Religious leaders have said immigration is a moral and humanitarian issue and have asked we view it with compassion. It is a message that must not be lost on our Utah legislators, some of whom seem to be considering laws based on fear, rather than compassion, such as the one denying in-state college tuition for undocumented students.

Last week, Catholic Bishop John C. Wester said immigrants are part of the human family and should be treated with dignity. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has called for compassion regarding immigration and welcomes all, including undocumented residents. Our nation's policies have been based on humanitarian principles and promulgated by our religious institutions; we are viewed around the world as holding the moral high ground. Utahns, especially, take pride in upholding our "Utah values" of family, compassion and caring for one another.

We were taught in our schools that we live in the land of opportunity and that with hard work and sacrifice we could realize our dreams. Teachers made us believe in ourselves. I was one of those students — a son of immigrant parents — who had teachers that were tough but gave us hope and taught us to have big dreams. Now there is a new generation of students sitting in today's classrooms with teachers who tell them the same and still give them hope — to work, study hard and succeed.

However, some legislators appear eager to exploit the fear in those looking for vulnerable scapegoats, then use immigrants for political gain. They argue costs. Yet last week, on the House Education Committee's agenda, two bills were passed: One denies in-state tuition to motivated students who will contribute to society, which would have cost the state only $350,000; and the other appropriates $1.5 million for post high school education for prison convicts. The message: Commit a felony and you can get a college education.

Some legislators fail to see the negative consequences of their actions. They not only douse the dreams teachers have instilled in students but, most destructive, demean and marginalize those students. The result is that such policies relegate a group of motivated students to a lifetime of poverty, when they could contribute to our state. There may be another Bill Gates in that group.
What is at stake in the debate are the values that have made us the compassionate and moral society for which we take pride and others look to as a beacon of hope. Unlike past generations that built our country out of hope, some of our leaders today are trying to make political gain out of fear. Rather than working for the common good and promoting the principles we claim to hold dear — compassion, humanitarianism — some lawmakers seem eager to make scapegoats out of the most vulnerable group in our society, children who have no voice.

Our religious leaders have called for legislators to make policies that reflect our moral and humanitarian values, but lawmakers ignore those pleas, saying they are responding to the public's wishes. If that's the case, how come they didn't listen when they quickly gave $35 million for a soccer stadium and voted for school vouchers, both contrary to the people's wishes?
I like to think the average citizen wants to see public policies reflect the values we live daily and teach our children. But unless the legislators hear from all of us, it will be business as usual.

Every child deserves hope.


Utah native John Florez has founded several Hispanic civil rights organizations, served on the staff of Sen. Orrin Hatch and on more than 45 state, local and volunteer boards. He also has been deputy assistant secretary of labor. E-mail: jdflorez@comcast.net

"I Am the Only One"

"I am the only one," is a phrase every 2008 Presidential candidate has repeatedly used in interviews, debates, and speeches. They are obviously using this phrase as part of a political agenda to win votes. Yet, it definitely has application to those of us wanting to better serve our diverse learners.

There will be many times we will probably feel like we are the "only one." In some arenas it may be a reality that our voice is the only voice speaking in behalf of diverse learners. It is critical that we keep on speaking that lone voice in spite of the fact that it may appear no one is listening. One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is the widow who is persistent at knocking at the door of the unjust judge. We need to just keep knocking at the door. Persistence does eventually reap its rewards--although maybe not in the timing we would prefer--but it will always be at the perfect timing.

There is a website http://www.powerone.org/ that you might want to visit for ideas. At this site, you can also read about a book called The Power of One.

Thought: If you want to innovate, to change an enterprise or a society,
it takes people willing to do what's not expected. - Jean Riboud

Cornell West Insights --Part 2

"We are all on the same ship, and that ship has leaks in it. We must all stick together, or we will all fall apart, for we are inextricably linked together."

"While the unexamined life is not worth living, the examined life is a necessarily painful one to lead."

"What does it mean to be human? To be human is to suffer, to shudder in the face of life's mysteries and to struggle with that mystery."

West quotes William Butler Yeats who said, "it takes more courage to dig deep into the abyss of one's own soul than it takes for a soldier to fight on the battlefield."

"Teachers must forge a courage in themselves and attempt to make it contagious with their students to move from learning that is too hollow, too shallow, too quantitative, too standard-oriented."

"Lack of democracy: voicelessness. Democratic reality: a sense of being an agent in the world.

"West quotes Emerson as saying that all forms of imitation are suicide. Therefore, each must find his or her own distinctive voice and practice it and "bounce it up against other voices within the community like a jazz quartet."

Listen to The Student Voices

While researching for the research paper for Dr. Hite's class, I ran across this important information about the importance of listening to the voices of diverse learners.

Over 20 years ago the influential English sociologists Hammersely and Woods (1984) commented:"There can be little doubt that pupils' own interpretations of school processes represent a crucial link in the educational chain. Unless we understand how pupils respond to different forms of pedagogy and school organization and why they respond in the ways that they do, our efforts to increase the effectiveness, or to change the impact, of schooling will stand little chance of success" (p. 3).

Cook-Sather (2002) said:"As long as we exclude student perspectives from our conversations about schooling and how it needs to change, our efforts at reform will be based on an incomplete picture of life in classrooms and schools and how that life could be improved" (p. 3).

Seeking out the voice of students and engaging them in issues that face them uphold the values and principles of democracy (Sands, Guzman, Stephens, & Boggs, 2007).As we listen to the voices of diverse students and respond to those voices, we will have schools that work for them.

I concur with what John Morefield said in his work, Recreating Schools for All Children:"I have come to believe that a school designed to work for children of color, works for white children. The reverse, however, is not true. Consequently, if we design our schools to work for children of color they will work for all children."

REFERENCES

Cook-Sather, A. (2002). Authorizing students' perspectives: Toward trust, dialogue, and
change in education. Educational Researcher, 31(4), 3.-14.

Hammersley, M., & Woods, P. (Eds.) (1984). Life in school: The sociology of pupil culture.
Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.

Morefield, J. (???). Recreating schools for all children. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from
World Wide Web http://www.newhorizons.org/trans/morefield.htm#expectations

Sands, D. L., Guzman, L., Stephens, L., & Boggs, A. (2007). Including student voices in
school reform: Students speak out. Journal of Latinos and Education, 6, 323-345.

Spiritual Leaders Aren't Mediocre

I share today the words of Charles Malik as they appeared in a speech given by Gordon B. Hinckley.

Stand Up for Truth
GORDON B. HINCKLEY
Gordon B. Hinckley was president of The Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was given at Brigham Young University on 17 September 1996.

..................
I recently reread a statement given on this campus years ago by Charles H. Malik, then secretary general of the United Nations. He said:
I respect all men, and it is from disrespect for none that I say there are no great leaders in the world today. In fact, greatness itself is laughed to scorn. You should not be great today--you should sink yourself into the herd, you should not be distinguished from the crowd, you should simply be one of the many.
The commanding voice is lacking. The voice which speaks little, but which when it speaks, speaks with compelling moral authority--this kind of voice is not congenial to this age. The age flattens and levels down every distinction into drab uniformity. Respect for the high, the noble, the great, the rare, the specimen that appears once every hundred or every thousand years, is gone. Respect at all is gone! If you ask whom and what people do respect, the answer is literally nobody and nothing. This is simply an unrespecting age--it is the age of utter mediocrity. To become a leader today, even a mediocre leader, is a most uphill struggle. You are constantly and in every way and from every side pulled down. One wonders who of those living today will be remembered a thousand years from now--the way we remember with such profound respect Plato, and Aristotle, and Christ, and Paul, and Augustine, and Aquinas.
If you believe in prayer, my friends, and I know you do, then pray that God send great leaders, especially great leaders of the spirit. [Charles H. Malik, "Forum Address" (18 November 1975), BYU Studies 16, no. 4 (Summer 1976): 543­44]

...............................

Generous Listening

"You may be right." "That is an excellent point (or observation)." "I had never thought of it in that way." Who wouldn't like to hear words such as these after expressing a thought or idea? These kind of statements open up dialogue. From this kind of dialogue can come even richer and more beneficial conclusions.

Not only is this true for conversation, but it is also true for research. It can be quite disconcerting when research is used as a weapon or an opportunity to attack the work of someone else....and sometimes even going so far as name calling. When examining the work of others, it is important to be generous and resist the temptation to highlight its weaknesses and reject it because it represents a view different than one's own.

Being generous in no way means that one shouldn't observe with a critical eye. That is crucial. Yet, one is in a much better position to offer a differing point of view if one has first been generous.

Those of us who advocate for the importance of looking at education through the eyes of diverse learners and seeking ways to better serve them must set an example by generously listening to diverse voices, including those that are diametrically opposed to our voice,....and do so with the desire to understand. There is always the possibilty that we will discover "kernels of truth" that we can build upon to better serve our diverse learners.