"Ain't That America"

This country is fooling itself if we believe that all immigrants are bad. Based on our economy, immigrants are needed for certain jobs and provide stability. The problem is how to regulate them.

"Think of America's greatest historical shames. Most have involved the singling out of groups of people for abuse. Name a distinguishing feature--skin color, religion, nationality, language--and it's likely that people here have suffered unjustly for it, either through the freelance hatred of citizens or as a matter of official government policy."

Unfortunately we target all those who look like immigrants, every single Spanish-speaking person. Many ideas have come up on what to do with the status of the immigrants. Some say deport them all, others claim that giving them all amnesty is necessary, two big extremes for such a big issue.

People need to see that this issue will affect us whether we ant it to or not. We need to distinguish between the people who are actually trying to better their lives and those who take advantage of government aid. This issue has been ongoing and the more time it takes, the more adapted they come, the more influential they get, the bigger the role in society all the immigrants become.

http://nytimes.com/2007/10/22/opinion/22mon1.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Editorials

Gang Rivalry Turns into Race War

"As the story goes, the East Coast Crips robbed a Florencia 13 drug connection of a large quantity of dope nearly a decade ago. Since then, the tale of how a black street gang ripped off a Latino rival has taken on mythic proportions." But no one really knows if this actually happened. For years even decades, violence between the two gangs as escalated to the status of a race war. Innocent people are getting involved simply due to their color and where they are seen. The U.S Attorney's office has announced an indictment against members of the Latino gang, Florencia 13, claiming that they have started a campaign to drive out African-American rivals. The area was once primarily black, but now is dominantly Latino. The amount of Homicides has gone down considerably due the harsh pursuit of local policemen, but unfortunately the war still rages on. This violence not only hurts the gangs but locals as well as the economy. Kids are being influenced and forced to join a gang simply for protection. There needs to be a lot more attention to this issue. Gang violence spreads throughout the whole community and the effects are never good.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_angeles_metro/la-me-firestone18oct18,1,72838.story?coll=la-commun-los_angeles_metro&ctrack=8&cset=true

“Failing Schools Strain to meet U.S Standard”

Los Angeles public schooling is at an all time low. For the past half-dozen years, not even one in five students in the East L.A’s district’s teeming high schools has been able to do grade-level math or English. For the continuous failing of schools like these, the “No Child Left Behind law,” now up for change by Congress, requires drastic measures such as: firing teachers and principals, shutting schools down and turning them over to a private firm, a charter operator or the state itself, or a major repair in authority.

More than 1,000 of California’s 9,500 schools are branded chronic failures, and the numbers are growing. The need for change is becoming necessary and must come by 2014 when the law requires universal math and language proficiency. California is not the only state with problems. It is followed by Florida, Maryland, and even New York. California citizens’ groups have sued the state and federal government for failing to deliver on the law’s promises. The problem is that there are simply too many schools not producing adequate education, but they cannot be closed due to the demand of the number of youth. “A federal survey last year showed that in 87 percent of the cases of persistently failing schools, states and school districts avoided wholesale changes in staff or leadership.” Under the No Child Law schools are asked for more, as the performance drops over a couple of years.

The community needs to take the load rather than the state. It all has to do with those in charge not only of the hiring but of the teaching of each subject. If a teacher is not able to teach a student, a student simply will not be able to learn the material adequately. Although, a student must take their classes seriously. More emphasis should be put on education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/education/16child.html?pagewanted=2&hp

"The New Affirmative Action"

Affirmative Action.....Necessary? or Impossible?
About 20-30 years ago, being African-American could get a person into just about any public University without an outstanding G.P.A. Simply meeting registration requirements was enough because diversity was seen as a necessity in colleges.

Around the 1990's universities began to slow down and took a more passive stand on affirmative-action policies. Eventually California voters passed the California Civil Rights Initiative, also known as Proposition 209. This meant that race could no longer be a factor in accepting applicants to public universities. As a result the number of black students accepted into certain universities dropped immensely.

A man named Peter Taylor, a former U.C.L.A. graduate has spear-headed an organization to get black students into colleges like Berkeley and U.C.L.A. His group of students, teachers, alumni, and activists have been working for about a year and have seen a little success.

Proposition 209 has created a patently impossible situation. Due to the fact that the California's 'better' High schools offer A.P and Honor classes kids getting accepted to colleges such as Berkeley have an average G.P.A of 4.2. In largely black schools, or city schools it is almost impossible to reach a 4.0 due to the fact that no higher level courses are being taught.

“Ability is stretched or stunted by the family that you live with and the neighborhood you live in — by the school you go to and the poverty or the richness of your surroundings. It is the product of a hundred unseen forces playing upon the little infant, the child and, finally, the man.” -Lyndon Johnson

This is just the tip to a long debated issue. I feel that affirmative action is necessary if we are to give people equal chances to higher education or even as far as job security. Click on the link below to read the full article and get a little more insight.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30affirmative-t.html?ref=education