Illegal Studying?
Often times in our society, children of illegal immigrants are looked down upon because of the choices their parents made for them. I once had a Spanish teacher from Colombia. She had many family members who were here illegally, and I personally saw the way they were treated differently. At this time I went to a private school, and they were turned away because their parents were in America illegally, even though they had been born in America and were therefore citizens.
Children of illegal immigrants should not be denied education because, often times, the choice to come to America was not their choice; it was a choice made by their parents in order to give them a better future, and we should not be faulting them for that. According to the New York Times, many illegal immigrants will not enroll their children in public schools and other opportunities for fear of deportation.
The children who were brought to America without a choice often don’t even know that they are here illegally, so when they begin to become young adults, it is thrown in their faces when they are unable to get a job, a license, or a credit card. That is a harsh reality that they have to face because of a choice they didn’t make. These children have the right to an education, and if they are here, why shouldn’t we set them up to contribute to our society?
If we aren’t setting these children up to succeed, we are setting them up to fail, and we do not need these people who can’t contribute to this society in America. Although these children may be here illegally, they did not choose to be; therefore, if they are here we might as well give them the opportunity to make something of themselves. What if one of them happens to be the scientist that will find the cure to cancer and we miss out on that? It would be because we didn’t give them the opportunity to go to school and reach their full potential.
Some critics may argue that, since their parents aren’t paying taxes, they should not be able to attend public school. The problem with that is that it was not their choice to come here or be born here, and they don’t have the power to make their parents move, become a citizen, or pay taxes. It makes no sense why they should be punished for these things that they cannot control. They are committing a fallacy by stating that these children should not have equal opportunities because they are here illegally. This argument is not fair simply based on the fact that these children have no say in where they live. Their parents make all the decisions for them. This is a false cause fallacy which means that the person presumes that a real or perceived relationship between things means that one must be the cause of the other.
In America, we should be setting all children up to succeed, including those with parents who are illegal immigrants. All children deserve the opportunity to reach their full potential. My argument, however, may be viewed as a fallacy because I am so biased on this subject. People seeking fallacies in my argument may argue that I don’t know the facts of illegal immigrants very well; however, I disagree with this because I did research and read articles on the subject from first hand accounts.
