Educate Immigrants Before Releasing Them Into American Society
We need to let them know what they're getting themselves into and how to survive in our world.
October 26, 2016
Dear Future President,
Immigration, I’m sure you hear about this everyday, it’s one of the most controversial topics nowadays. I think we should allow immigration, but we should help those that do come to America learn our ways so they can fit more easily into our society’s ways. This is something that many immigrants have issues with.
In an article by The Atlantic, America’s Immigration Challenge, they talk about how ill prepared immigrants are for American lifestyles. Immigrants from Middle Eastern countries have mismatched skills, they come from a land of mostly nomadic herders. These countries aren’t as technologically advanced as we are so they come over under prepared for American lives. Due to the lack of skills to perform the jobs needed in America, many young immigrants are tempted by criminal acts.
Along with having the wrong skill sets for our jobs, many immigrants have no education, very few even attended primary school. According to the same article, UNICEF has given up trying to measure literacy rates. Due to both the illiteracy and lack of necessary skills, many immigrants flounder in American society. This may chase many into being exactly what many Americans think they already are, trouble.
Personally, I feel this issue is a fairly easy to manage one. Instead of just testing how much immigrants know and releasing them, find their skill level now then help to raise them up to where we expect a person of that age to be. Add in a few classes on basic American culture and you now have someone who knows what they are getting into. To kind of add to this education, maybe have it to where after they have a standard education, have a few small technical schools or other secondary education facilities to send the working age immigrants to so they can learn things to help them find work.
Now, I know what your probably thinking, ‘where do we get the funds for this?’ I would say either make it similar to a loan where they can get the education they need then once they start working and have a steady income they can pay it back. Or we could have it be a work for school concept similar to that of some colleges where you can work for the facility and get an education at the same time.
By having systems such as this in place, we can enable immigrants to fit into American society and help them to have a way to survive other than criminal activity. This would also make America a happier and safer place for all.
Sincerely,
Rayvn