Friday, July 20, 2007
Fact of the Day: more than half of University of California undergraduates are immigrants or the children of immigrants
According to a new (for details, click here), more than half of University of California undergraduates are immigrants or the children of immigrants, says a new survey that paints an interesting picture of students by the numbers.
KJ
Update Grace O'Malley at Intlawgrrls writes about this study here.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2007/07/fact-of-the-day.html
Comments
Actually, this represents a huge intergeneration transfer in social capital from those who paid the costs of building the UC system to, well, foreigners. I doubt this is what the citizens of California in, say the 1950s and 1960s, when the UC was undergoing great expansion, had in mind. After all, that was a time of low immigration, when citizens could be sure that their taxes went to benefit their own children and grandchildren.
Posted by: Mitchell Young | Jul 22, 2007 2:53:48 AM
Responding to comments, I think the point is to say that immigrants and their children do contribute to this country more than they are giving credit for. They are bright unlike most things that are said about them. They work hard - getting into schools like these and keeping the grades - especially with a second language - is not easy for anybody. Also these students will then graduate and use their skills and knowledge in the US economy - many times giving jobs to Americans as they become the CEOs of the Yahoos and Old Navys. Their presence and their work definitely benefits their American counterparts. Another thing they don't get credit for.
And don't forget these students are not going to school for free or that somehow you're paying for it :) A lot of these students have more $$ than you and me put together and contribute very generously to our educational system. Foreign students will have to pay from 3 to 10 times more than regular student for tuition - many of whom are also paying taxes! If a student is willing to pay that much more to go to school in the US or an investor is willing to give several million up front to do business here our government will not turn them away - and when it comes to jobs we will not be judgmental either.
If the world gets to be told what to do by us and we make decisions for them that affect their people - they get to make some contributions of their own in our turf. Luckily for us, most of these contributions are nothing but beneficial to us, ie: spending their money in our economy to study here. We have also been lucky to get renown experts and scholars from the rest of the world to work for the US and contribute greatly to our position in the world.
To me it is not a mystery that there is a difference in effort and aspiration between those who experienced migration (or the concept of making a better life somewhere) recently and those who didn't. Neither group is good or bad, however, when you don't have to proof yourself worthy of respect - when it is your birth right - you do expect a lot more from the system, which can result in less effort output, ie: the huge numbers of high school and college drop-outs who are not interested in education. (To many foreign students who'd like to have the benefits of being American this is a great puzzle.) This is not to say that American students are not making great contributions - of course they do and they get their due respect - unlike their immigrant counterparts.
I think a lot of the articles here are just a matter of giving immigrants some credit for what they do, and will do for you and me, since in the mainstream media we only hear of the supposedly negative consequences of the presence of the colored-immigrant. When it comes to immigration issues there's massive ignorance and that ignorance has clearly benefited certain agendas.
Posted by: Insighter | Jul 23, 2007 11:19:16 AM
What is your point? My impression from the blogger is that somehow children of immigrants are special, and that those third generation and higher are somewhat inferior to them. Being an immigration lawyer, it is understandable that you have a self interest in promoting immigration, regardless of the merit or lack of merit that it has to this country. This is understandable, as most lawyers will use the law to the benefit of their client, even at the expense of society as a whole. Frankly, I have more faith in the ability of birthright citizens to produce growth and greatness in this country than the bloggers at this site. I view his blog more as trade opinion engaged in self-promotion, with the occasional humanitarian argument thrown in to provide cover for the former.
Posted by: Horace | Jul 21, 2007 12:13:57 AM