Education Law

The new New Colossus

Remember when you were in school and you learned about the Statue of Liberty, immigration, urbanization, and the new wave of immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe early in the 20th century? Maybe you read the poem The New Colossus, with it's famous line, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

Some historians liken what's happening with the current wave of immigrants to what happened 100 years ago. When Irish, Italian, Greek, and Germans flooded America's cities, nativist thoughts and anti-immigration feelings raged through the "old" American's veins. Those immigrants were changing the way America worked-- "stealing jobs," bringing new kinds of traditions, and generally "ruining" America's cities. Change the countries of origin and you have a similar arugment in today's terms. That's why our friends at USA Today caught our attention with this story about immigrants teaching America's youth in urban and rural areas.

The shortage of teachers in areas like math, science, and special education has forced many districts nationwide to look outside our borders for teachers. In fact, many urban districts are hiring hundreds of teachers from countries as far away as the Philippines and India. The good news for recruiters is they don't always have to travel that far to get the teachers they need. In Dallas, they utilize technology to interview job candidates. The result is getting qualified teachers and saving money. Who could argue with that?

We hear stories all the time about the lawyer from another country who comes to the U.S. and can only find a job as a construction worker. Other stories talk about doctors who immigrate here and can only work as a custodian. Our question is--if they have skills to work with children and can motivate a child to learn, and of course get creditialed in their state, why can't immigrants who are educated work as teachers? What's your district doing to save money, hire qualified teachers, and diverisfy the teaching staff? Leave a comment and tell us all about it.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on October 24, 2008 (boomark / email).