Virginia, Fairfax County, Education, and Trailers

Virginia is an interesting educational and political study in how to destroy a formerly well-off state with tolerance and multi-culturalism dictated by politicians from Richmond and Washington, D.C. It is a microcosm of the civilization suicide that is taking place in Europe.

Virginia is not very far behind the Seattle School District that sent a letter recently to teachers asking them to bless Muslim students in Arabic during Ramadan. Virginia obsesses over accommodating those who will not give an inch in their quest to be a specially protected class.

The Guardian wrote that “Virginia students learn in trailers while the state offers Amazon huge tax breaks.” And the unhappy teachers went on strike in January 2019 to express their dissatisfaction with what they saw as low pay, $9,000 less than the national average, while the state of Virginia was so generous to Amazon. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/27/virginia-teachers-strike-amazon-tax-breaks?CMP=share_btn_fb The Washington Post published data from the National Education Association that the average K-12 teacher earned $58,353 in 2016-2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/03/05/how-much-or-little-teachers-earn-state-by-state/?noredirect=on

According to the Guardian, “more than 22,000 students in Fairfax county [the third richest county in America] receive their education in cheaply constructed plywood trailers, often with visible signs of green mold, like those parked next to the baseball fields next to McClean High School.”

McClean is a rich area in NOVA where the average homes cost over a million dollars. The property tax base to help fund public schools is thus very large.

Quoting school board member Ryan McElveen, the Guardian wrote, “Our staff often likes to say that Fairfax Public schools is the largest trailer dealer on the east coast. We own 820 trailers, more than any other entity on the entire east coast.”

Gov. Ralph Northam proposed to increase the education budget by approximately $270 million. Teachers objected to Northam’s proposed $750 million expenditure to lure Amazon to build its second HQ in Virginia, while classrooms were overcrowded, necessitating the use of trailers.

Why is there such an overcrowding in northern Virginia’s schools?  It is certainly not because Americans are having more babies, far from it, it is because illegal aliens have so many anchor babies that we are educating for free.

Educators are the first to push the liberal agenda of flooding the country with illegals whose children must be educated in their own native language, often dialects that require financial investing in specialized translators, teachers, textbooks, classes, and special tutoring, at the expense of American children who must learn in trailers and make do with less.

These new illegal arrivals must be also be fed at taxpayers’ expense and illegal families must be sheltered in welfare housing and provided with everything they may need to survive, including free and expensive healthcare.

Some teachers believe that giving tax breaks to Amazon is wrong when they could teach so many more illegal aliens’ children instead and house their families at the expense of the Virginian taxpayers.

Local and very vocal liberals in Fairfax county, who push for more school funding, argue that “building new schools could actually create more jobs than bringing in Amazon.” More schools mean more teachers and a lower teacher-to-student ratio argues Lee Carter, a Democrat Socialist state delegate from Manassas.

Northern Virginia (NOVA) with its progressive and corrupt political atmosphere is the reason why the entire state of Virginia is turning socialist. Republicans barely control the House of Delegates by only one delegate and the Senate by two Senators.

The NOVA population is composed mostly of federal government workers from Washington, D.C. and an ever-growing and very large contingent of illegal and legal aliens who vote Democrat as a block because they want to turn Virginia into the socialist paradise they’ve fled from.

Fairfax County Public School has adopted highly controversial curricula on sex education, sidestepping the important role of parents to teach their own children about human sexuality.  FCPS agenda was transgenderism and co-ed bathrooms.

The state education budget and local property taxes fund the public schools but is the money being used judiciously?

FCPS, with its budget of $3 billion annually, focuses more on globalism, with graduates who have “…attributes of Communicator, Collaborator, Ethical and Global Citizen, Creative and Critical Thinker, and Goal-Directed and Resilient Individual.”

Next year’s proposed budget increase of $117 million will “provide excellence and equity, hiring more staff to teach 1,000 fewer students.” According to Arthur Purves, “FCPS has a Chief Equity Officer but not much equity.” https://thebullelephant.com/Fairfax-county-public-schools-excellence-for-a-few/

Why Global Citizenship and Not American Citizenship?

Photo credit: Ileana Johnson, 2014

I have asked many students over my 30 teaching years why they attended college. The answers encompassed a wide range:

-          It’s a family tradition and my parents are making me

-          I want to learn more about a particular subject

-          I want a higher-paying job

-          I want to be a doctor, a vet, an engineer, a pilot, an astronaut, an artist

-          I want to do research and find a cure for cancer

-          I have nothing better to do with my time and I like being a student

-          I want to be perennial learner and the tuition is paid by the government

-          I want to make American lives better

-          I want to be the first college graduate in my family

-          I don’t want to work in a blue collar job like my father

-          I want to help my small hometown who needs a doctor or a vet

Not one time did I hear a student say that they are pursuing a college degree for “diversity,” “global citizenship,” and “social justice.” Not one time did any student tell me that they were studying in order to make other nations better, spread the wealth of his/her earnings to the downtrodden of the world, or rearrange America in the image of social justice, code words for communism.

I am not sure I talked to anyone who said, I really want to change this country into a communist society because I was taught by academia that Marx’s teachings would make it better. America has been so rotten for over 250 years and we must fix it.

The electronic board I saw in a large D.C. mall pictured a young man and proclaimed in bold letters, “WORLD READY. Honor. Excellence. Service. Preparation for work, life, and citizenship in the global economy.*” I asked myself, do we live in America or the globe? Shouldn’t this college prepare students for American citizenship in our economy? The asterisk explained that the University of Mary Washington subscribes to the 2012 Association of American Colleges & Universities: Promising Practices for Personal and Social Responsibility.”

As a parent and former teacher, I wanted to know what this AAC&U 2012 platform was, so I started digging. The electronic ad at the mall intrigued me and I could not get it out of my mind.

The platform (the pdf file has 112 pages) which grew from a 2006 AAC&U initiative with a grant from the Templeton Foundation, “Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility,” emphasized “learning skills and dispositions appropriate for living and working in a diverse society, such as their ‘ability to see the world from someone else’s perspective,’ ‘tolerance of others with diverse beliefs,’ and ‘ability to work cooperatively with diverse people.’” The wording for “Core Commitments” in higher education sounded eerily similar to some of the wording in Common Core Standards for elementary and high school education.

The problem with “diverse” and “diversity” is that it is not a civic strength despite liberal promotion of multiculturalism, “multicultural festivals,” and political speeches about multiculturalism that present America as stronger because of diversity. Europeans have already admitted publicly through Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy that multiculturalism has failed miserably in Europe.

Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam found out by interviewing 30,000 people across America that the more diverse a community, the fewer people vote and volunteer, the less they give to charity, and the less they work on community projects. Putnam’s study, the largest on civic involvement in America, found that almost all measures of civic participation are lower in the more diverse settings. (The Downside of Diversity – The Boston Globe, August 2007)

Max Fisher explained that studies also show that diversity tends to correlate with low Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and conflict. The African continent tends to be the most diverse and with lower GDP.

In concert with AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative, the Core Commitments require five indispensable “capacities” for college students:

-          Strong work ethic

-          Personal relationships and academic integrity

-          Contributing to a larger community

-          Taking seriously the perspectives of others

-          Developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning and action

https://aacu.org/core_commitments/.../promising_practices_rc2012.pdf

The five Core Commitments “capacities” contain elements of indoctrination as well as elements of parental guidance that should have been instilled into their children long before they made it to college.  Taking over the parental role and reshaping their children’s view of the world smacks of indoctrination. What kind of action are our students supposed to take? Do these five “core capacities” and especially the development of “competence in ethical and moral reasoning and action” reflect our American values or are they reflecting the values of a global entity that is pushing global citizenship?

Americans are not responsible for the outcomes and lives of those around the globe. Americans already engage in volunteerism and service, they do not need mandated curricula from an institution of higher learning.

Americans are already one the most tolerant cultures when it comes to racial and ethnic diversity. As research shows, diversity makes our civic societal fabric weaker, not stronger.

Why would colleges then mandate preparation of our American students for global citizenship, should colleges not prepare students for American citizenship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diversity and Multiculturalism, Failed Liberal Values

This country was not built on diversity and multiculturalism, the failed liberal ideology. We are certainly diverse enough and Americans come from many cultures. For generations every immigrant to this country learned English, American history, celebrated American traditions, and became a part of the fabric of our exceptional society while honoring traditions from their ethnic backgrounds and former countries they left behind.

Left wing ideology with the help of Marxist college professors, Hollywood, and the main stream media is determined to change that. We are suddenly an “evil empire” with a heavy burden of pass transgressions and Americans should be ashamed of their history, their Christian religion, wealth earned through hard work and entrepreneurial ethic, and of the myriad of accomplishments that have saved and improved the lives of billions on this planet.

The Constitution has become a “living, breathing document” that old men from long time ago wrote and is no longer applicable to our changing life where “social justice” and redistribution of wealth, stealing from producers and giving to takers, decisions made by Saul Alinsky type street organizers, are pressing goals at every level of society.  Our laws are now just mere suggestions for minions to follow, the elite in power decides what is good for our bodies and our lives even though it violates our Constitutional rights.

We are committing societal suicide through environmentalism gone berserk, demographics, degradation of education via communist indoctrination in schools, insane illegal immigration policies, abortion, out of control fiscal and monetary policies, unraveling of the family unit, degradation of the institution of marriage, and destruction of our Christian faith.

Liberal groups have pushed multiculturalism and diversity heavily in the last 30 years. We have legalized with little scrutiny people coming from third world nations based on their Islamic faith, refugee status, skin color, gender, ideology, sexuality, and economic background. We have given student visas at an accelerated pace, hoping that smart, college graduates would stay in the U.S. and contribute to society in a positive way.

President Bill Clinton instructed border guards to wave those on student visas through as expediently as possible. And the trees we planted are finally bearing fruit. Those who wish us harm have attacked, killed, and maimed American citizens because we have stopped enforcing the current immigration laws and border control crossing. The government even sued states who tried to do their job and enforce the border.

As Marinka Peschmann said in a recent article, “If the Gang of Eight’s so called immigration reform legislation becomes law, expect the number of illegal aliens that will be legalized in a broken, crime riddled agency, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to explode.” http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/54653

The Government Accountability Office warning that USCIS does not operate using the “best practices, is an understatement. The recent Boston Marathon bomber left the country for six months for Chechnya, a hotbed of Muslim terrorists, yet it did not raise a flag because his name was misspelled on the flight manifesto. Mohammed Atta, the 19^th hijacker of 9/11 got his green card in the mail at the college where he learned to fly a plane but not land it, six months after the bombing of the Twin Towers. There is a backlog of 4 million legal immigrants who are waiting patiently in their countries for resolution of their visas so that they can come to the U.S. legally. Jumping the border illegally and breaking the law is not an option.

Giving amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens as proposed by the Gang of Eight is a terrible idea because family members, stepchildren, gang members, those already deported twice (p. 614), and drunk drivers (2 offenses) would be allowed to apply. The gang members need only to “renounce” all association with the criminal street gang and they are welcome into U.S. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/54471) stated clearly this gang waiver on page 606. Habitual drunk drivers are inadmissible after three offenses.

Once the newly minted “Registered Provisional Immigrant” is secured in his/her legal residency, the chain migration will commence. I described the economic and societal implications of unchecked chain migration in my recent articles here

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/54639 and here. http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/54471

The Associated Press described in an article about 19 employees following lawsuit how ICE agents were “disciplined” for doing their jobs. Kris Kobach said, “Their political superiors are ordering them to violate federal law.” (http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/08/23/20120823ice-employees-file-lawsuit-stop-new-immigration-rule.html?nclick_check=1)

Marco Rubio told Rush Limbaugh in a recent interview that the status quo of immigration is unsustainable. He also said that immigration amnesty will come first and border enforcement later. 

We tried amnesty for 3 million illegals in 1986 and it did not work so well, serious border enforcement was quickly forgotten, that is why we are at this point again, having to deal with 11 million more illegal aliens, drawn by the lure of economic prosperity, generous welfare system, and the possibility of Reconquista. After all, the “gringos” are not having enough children to replace the dying population.

It seems that, if the immigration laws on the books are not enforced properly and the inefficiency of government has created such a back-logged status quo, the new 844-page immigration bill would derive no benefit to the American people, it would just create a new, bloated bureaucracy, draining more taxpayer dollars into a bottomless sinkhole. Shouldn’t Americans have a say-so in who is admitted into their country? Why are Americans from various groups not allowed to testify before this amnesty bill is hurried on through?

The truth is, the eight senators who sponsored this bill are making it easier for asylum seekers/law breakers like the Boston Marathon bombers to come to the U.S. (http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/54701)

Jim Carafano, Heritage Foundation fellow, wrote on the Foundry, “Good immigration and border security policies play an important, but supporting role. Generally, the rule is, if you have good policies that facilitate legal immigration and travel while providing for public safety and security – they will serve well to help thwart terrorist travel.” http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/20/the-boston-bombings-and-immigration/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

The web of groups that lobby on behalf of illegal immigrants is quite extensive. I wrote last year in my book, “Liberty on Life Support,” (http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-on-Life-Support-ebook/dp/B008CL3G3M)  about such a group, Casa de Maryland. Casa de Maryland board alumni include Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, and Thomas Perez, assistant attorney for civil rights and recent nominee for the Labor Secretary post.

Maryland is usually the first state in the nation that passes anti-American, pro-Agenda 21, pro-illegal immigration laws in the nation. It passed the Dream Act, in-state tuition for illegal immigrants’, college bound children. It may seem insignificant since only a few hundred illegal aliens would benefit from the law, however, Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of Casa de Maryland wants to take the Dream Act fight nationally because deporting 400,000 illegals annually is an insufferable number of potential union dues-paying workers and Democrat voters.

Casa de Maryland is located in a mansion purchased for $1 from Gregg Clickstein, and has a budget of $6 million. Republican State Delegate Pat McDonough objects to the local, state, and federal money funding the house itself, to the legal and other services provided to 20,000 illegal immigrants annually. “Gustavo has created a sanctuary state… The Governor does his bidding, the politicians who control power in the State of Maryland do his bidding…And his success has caused financial and personal heartbreak for the State of Maryland. They are a globally significant organization.”

Gregg Clickstein naively and unintentionally describes what is wrong with the illegal immigration lobby. “This nation of immigrants… and this new wave of immigrants, and having the opportunity to assimilate and be great Americans. It just really touched me.”

The statement sounds idealistic and noble, however, most illegal immigrants have no intention of assimilating, of becoming great Americans. They isolate themselves in Spanish speaking enclaves or Arabic speaking mosques, bringing their native countries culture of poverty, corruption, and religious oppression with them.

Illegal immigrants believe in bigger government and welfare as a source of wellbeing and success. They become new loyal Democrat voters who could ultimately shift the balance of power in our country to Democrats, without any checks and balances. http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/immigration-reform-could-upend-electoral-college-90478.html?fb_action_ids=597757090234936&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.UXcVKkPk9Xw.send&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

We are a nation of immigrants but we followed patiently the law of the land, learned English, and assimilated into America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Permanent Legal Immigration vs. Amnesty

In 2011 1.1 million aliens received legal permanent resident (LPR) status on the basis of family ties (65%), employment (13%), as refugees and asylum seekers (16%), and as diversity migrants (5%), a category established arbitrarily since we already are the most diverse nation.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 established four reasons under which permanent legal immigration status can be sought:

-         Reunification of families

-         Immigrants with needed skills

-         Refugee protection

-         Diversity of admission by country of origin

Currently 4.5 million visas are approved for legal permanent residence (LPR) but are pending because of the numerical limits imposed by INA. Most of these are visas petitioned for the reunification of families.

The top countries of immigration were Mexico (14%), China (8.2%), India (6.5%), Philippines (5.4%), and Dominican Republic (4.3%). A large percentage of legal permanent residents came from the ranks of aliens who had temporary (nonimmigrant) visas.

Until 1965, there was a national origin quota system from World War I. It was replaced with an amendment of 7 percent per-country ceiling. The statute regulating permanent immigration was revised significantly in 1990.

If amnesty is going to be considered, the 113^th Congress should tackle first a Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) which should include the following:

-         Revise the legal immigration system first

-         Increase border security

-         Enforce immigration laws

-         Reform the temporary worker visas

-         Resolve the status of millions of illegal aliens already residing in the country, some with American born children, some who came legally and overstayed their visas, and those who crossed the border illegally to work, traffic drugs, commit crimes, or take advantage of the generous welfare system in the U.S.

-         Increase the number of visas to immigrants already waiting in the “queue” with on-going applications

The proposed “pathway to citizenship,” a mixture of fees, penalties, and waiting period, or blanket amnesty for illegal aliens could increase the cost of Obamacare up to $300 billion over a decade in the form of costs for exchanges or Medicaid. (http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/05/pathway-to-citizenship-may-increase-obamacare-cost-up-to-300-billion-over-a-decade/)

According to Ruth Ellen Wasem, who wrote a Congressional Service Report on legal immigration, published on December 17, 2012, adult children of U.S. citizens wait about 7 years for a permanent resident status, with longer waits for those from Mexico and Philippines. “Consular officers are now considering petitions of the brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens from the Philippines who filed almost 24 years ago.” (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R42866.pdf)

Opponents of immigration favor:

-         Reduced immigration

-         Elimination of diversity visas (the immigrants do not wish to integrate into our society and comprise criminal elements as evidenced by attempted terrorist attacks)

-         Employment-based visas should include only highly skilled workers with hard to find skills

-         Limitation of family-based legal permanent residence (LPR) to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, not extended family members

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security have an annual maximum of legal permanent residents of 675,000 - 480,000 comprise family immigration, 140,000 employment-based immigration, and 55,000 diversity immigrants. These people follow the law, the complicated and lengthy maze of bureaucracy, legal documents, fees, and other requirements they must fulfill and pay for in order to become eligible, and then must wait patiently inside or outside of the U.S. at least five years for the resolution of their cases.

According to Ruth Ellen Wasem, immediate relatives such as spouses, unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens, parents of adult U.S. citizens and refugees do not have numerical limits on legal immigration.

Meanwhile, 11-12 million (the numbers change constantly, depending on the source) illegal aliens who just crossed the border illegally via Mexico or Canada establish residence here, have children, take advantage of our free schools, social services and programs in this country, including the upcoming Obamacare for which they are not required to pay the minimum $20,000 a year premium for a bronze level insurance but have full medical benefits.

These people are what the liberals lovingly call “undocumented workers,” “citizens in the shadows,” “Americans without papers.” I would argue that they do have papers, the passports and I.D.s from their respective countries whose flags they so devotedly respect and pin on their vehicles while burning, spitting, and trampling on the American flag. And Democrats tell us that they must immediately get amnesty and the right to vote.

We should have a robust guest worker system; it would alleviate many immigration problems we currently have. The Bracero Program, named after the Spanish “strong arm,” which was initiated in August 1942 and ended in 1964, imported temporary contract labor from Mexico into the U.S. However, we should first address the millions of unemployed Americans in the U.S., those who have made a lifestyle choice out of socialized generational welfare, and the Americans who have become discouraged workers and are no longer counted in the unemployment figures.

In the category of legal aliens are immigrants and nonimmigrants. The nonimmigrants comprise tourists, foreign students, diplomats, temporary agricultural workers, exchange visitors, intracompany business personnel who come here for a specific purpose and with a visa. Some of them never go back and are transitioned to legal permanent resident (LPR) status. Yet admission of immigrants (foreign nationals who come to live lawfully and permanently in the U.S.) is much more stringent than nonimmigrants. (CRS, Ruth Ellen Wasem, December 17, 2012)

Ronald Reagan gave blanket amnesty to almost 3 million illegal aliens in 1986 with Congressional promise that immigration reform would be enacted and the border would be enforced. It never happened and President Reagan regretted later his decision because it brought a new wave of illegal immigration. Today we are at the same crossroads and Congress is not even pretending to reform immigration laws or enforce border security. Instead, the federal government is suing those states who are trying to enforce the law.