History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
A Teachable Moment
- 04-30-2010
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By UCLA IDEA Staff
Themes in the News for the week of April 26-30, 2010
With her signing last week of SB 1070, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer sparked a fierce national discussion by people on all sides of the country’s immigration policy. Many have expressed concern that the bill relies on racial profiling and would harass U.S. citizens and permanent residents as much as it would likely identify undocumented immigrants. Others have used it as a launching pad to discuss broader immigration reform (New America Media).
The controversy surrounding SB 1070 could provide a unique opportunity for educators to engage with students and their parents about democracy and civic participation. In classrooms and public meetings, SB 1070 could promote discussion of the constitutional, social, and moral issues that the bill raises. Age-appropriate lessons could be designed to help students explore the rights and protections that a good society should afford to its most vulnerable members and place the Arizona law in the context of similarly controversial laws.
For example, California’s controversial Prop 187 denied undocumented immigrants access to medical, educational and other social services. The ballot initiative was passed by voters in 1994 but later deemed unconstitutional.
Arizona’s “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” encourages police officers to determine whether people are in the country legally. It makes it a misdemeanor to be without proper immigration paperwork and allows police to seek information if they have a “reasonable suspicion” someone is here illegally. Yesterday, the ACLU, MALDEF and the National Immigration Labor Center announced they would challenge the law before it takes effect within 90 days (PR Newswire). The groups said the new law promotes racial profiling and violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause by interfering in the federal government’s role.
Students could follow the course of these constitutional challenges. In addition to understanding their rights, students could learn how these rights are grounded in law across jurisdictions and history. When Phoenix Union High School District officials recently met with community members to inform them about SB 1070 (San Francisco Examiner), parents were reassured that under federal law no K-12 school official can ask about a child’s immigration status nor can they share that information with outside agencies.
The Arizona School Boards Association said it feared SB 1070 would create “a chilling effect that will make some parents hesitant to send their children to school, even if those children are eligible to attend Arizona public schools, thus inhibiting such opportunities for success (KVOA Tucson).”
Lastly, Arizona’s SB 1070 gives students a glimpse of how knowledge, organizing, participation and a passion for social justice can come together in appropriate civic engagement. Even before the governor’s signing, many student groups held protests and rallies. Last week, thousands of Phoenix area high school students organized walkouts via social networking sites Facebook and Twitter (KPHO Phoenix). Protests in numerous cities across the country have been organized for May 1, National Workers Day (Washington Post).
Phoenix Superintendent Kent Scribner reminded students to be responsible in exercising their First Amendment rights and registering to vote. “Next year, or four years from now, when you are 18, you can show the world that the protestors of yesterday are the voters of tomorrow” (San Francisco Examiner).
Teachers need to feel supported and be protected in the classrooms so they can engage in frank discussions with their students. They too are the target of anti-immigrant sentiments after Arizona school officials said teachers who speak with heavy accents should no longer teach English-language learners (Wall Street Journal). In these difficult times, teachers and administrators need to be courageous and communities need to stand behind them to ensure that students have an opportunity to candidly discuss today’s issues and grow into informed citizens.
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