Education

It’s encouraging to hear Democrats and Republicans talking about children in the immigration debate. Children of immigrants are one-fourth of the kids in America, and one million of America’s unauthorized aspiring citizens are children. So getting immigration reform done means getting it right for kids.
 
This bipartisan focus on kids is critical, because current law subjects children to serious hardship and harm. As Michigan State Law School professor David Thronson recently wrote, today’s immigration law “devalues” children. He concludes that it treats children as objects, instead of people with rights and a say in their own lives. Not surprisingly, when children interact with the system, the outcomes are not good. For example a person inadmissible to the U.S. can qualify for relief by showing hardship to a U.S. citizen spouse or other close adult relative, but the law systematically ignores the same hardship to a U.S. citizen child. Similar double-standards for deportation routinely subject kids to harm, by ignoring the common-sense reality that children experience traumatic separation in more damaging and lasting ways than adults.

When it comes to math and science the United States needs to do its homework. Currently, less than one-third of eighth graders in the U.S. are proficient in science and mathematics and only nine states allow computer science courses to count towards graduation requirements.
 
These statistics are a stark reminder that while the U.S. is a global superpower in every definition, our country’s leaders and educators can’t sit on the sidelines when it comes to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related fields.

The future of the American Dream depends on what we do at this decisive moment. As an educator of more than 30 years, I know the dream is first ignited in the classroom. Education is the origin of opportunity in our cities and towns, and it is the engine of exceptionalism on the world stage. Now, more than ever before, the attainability of the American dream is imperiled by an opportunity gap in public education — a gap exacerbated by wealth disparities at the local level. Our nation’s global leadership is also threatened by widening disparities between American children and students from other developed nations, as our children and families fall further below the poverty line.

The Afghanistan orchestra that recently appeared at the Kennedy Center represents the future of our country. A future based not on hatred and war, but on a life full of harmony and joy promoting the highest human values of tolerance, culture and education.  

While extremists and others are trying to tear us apart, these youth are demonstrating the wishes of the Afghan people and the future they envision for themselves complimenting one another and working together to create a strong Afghan voice combining Eastern and Western tools while appreciating the international director assisting them with taking the best of the Western culture and merging it with the Afghan culture in a beautiful collaboration. 

At first glance, it may seem curious that a state President Obama lost by 8 percentage points got a shoutout in this week’s State of the Union, but there Georgia was, in all her glory.
 
On a day deemed ‘Georgia Day’ by Governor Nathan Deal, a celebration of James Oglethorpe’s initial landing, the commander-and-chief recognized the state for its lauded Pre-Kindergarten program, which provides free preschool for children in the state.
 
Obama used the example to call for universal preschool for all children, through the federal government “working with” the states.
 
He’s following that up with a trip to Atlanta, where it’s largely expected he’ll tout the Pre-K program yet again.

Earlier this week, President Obama delivered his State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress. In a speech outlining many of his priorities for America, the president identified early childhood education as a critical investment to make in our children. Not only do children perform better in school after early education, they go on to lead richer lives and achieve greater success. We know now that the early years of life are critical to cognitive and social development, and we applaud President Obama’s choice to emphasize the economic growth we can guarantee with stronger early education investments.
 
Presenting a bold plan that could transform the nation's education system, the president made clear that all children should have access to early education. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to providing early learning services to at-risk children agree wholeheartedly.

In Tuesday's State of The Union address, President Obama reasserted his support for rebuilding the middle class, doubling down on his promise to create more jobs and get America’s economy back on track. With 12 million people unemployed, another 2.5 million under-employed and millions more suffering from prolonged economic stagnation, the President’s remarks are welcome. 
 
During the address to the nation, the president said, “Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores?  How do we equip our people with the skills to get those jobs?  And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?"

One year ago, President Obama set the tone for his national security focus when he stated that “we will focus on a broader range of challenges and opportunities, including the security and prosperity of the Asia Pacific.”  This strategic rebalancing – after a decade of counterinsurgency efforts -- will require new capabilities. To support our nation’s warfighters and allies around the world, we are constantly engaged in developing more innovative ways to meet the challenges posed by the battlefield of the 21st century.

When Woodrow Wilson established the annual State of the Union address a hundred years ago, the United States had a strict policy forbidding Asian immigrants from even setting foot on our shores. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the law of the land, and it remains the only federal law to ever exclude an entire group of people from immigration solely because of their race.

Tonight, President Obama will step to the same podium and chart a new course for our nation – one that will hopefully result in a common sense immigration process. Moving forward, it is crucial that we also recognize the impact of our broken immigration system on Asian Pacific Americans, a community that is often overlooked in this debate.

During his second inaugural speech, the president proclaimed that "[o]ur journey is complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity.” Powerful words, indeed. The problem is that, coming from him, they ring hollow.
 
The president loves to pontificate about immigration, but the reality is that since his administration began, he hasn’t done anything to advance the discussion of immigration and help forge the bipartisan consensus necessary to address this important issue. He’s only made promises that he hasn’t kept.