community colleges

I'm now in my fourth week of life on the farm in Rising Sun, Maryland, and things have settled into something of a routine that goes like this: Sleep, snow, shovel, work, snow, shovel, work, sleep. Just getting from the house to the road can take 20 minutes when the snow is drifting, which it always is.

As you know from my earlier posts, my daughter Lily is taking off from four-year college to help in the care of her grandfather. She is, however, attending the local community college. Like such schools in North Carolina, this one is strained beyond capacity. She got in because she's an out-of-state student paying higher tuition than locals.

North Carolina, of course, faces similar or worse challenges. After destroying our economy, Republicans are now licking their chops to destroy our public education system as well. There are not enough jobs being created now to turn the tide of structural unemployment, and that will not change in any appreciable way over the next ten years. But instead of raising taxes to fully fund community colleges and public schools, Republicans are doubling down on stupid, ripping apart the only hope for many to train or retrain themselves for the challenging future.

Republicans are congenitally opposed to any kind of planning except when it involves rich people getting richer. They have an instinctive phobia that prevents them from thinking ahead. And it shows.

Preparing illegal immigrants to enter North Carolina’s workforce ignores the fact that under the Immigration and Nationality Act it is illegal to employ an illegal alien.

Common sense and the rule of law makes an uncommon visit to North Carolina's state government. Governor Easley must be sorely disappointed.

On Christmas Eve, the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP weighed in on the issue of undocumented immigrants’ access to higher education. The NAACP joined together with the Adelante Education Coalition for a joint rally and press conference.

Standing on the steps of the NC Community College System administrative building, NAACP President William Barber called upon the leaders of our state to open the doors of higher education. Calling it his Christmas message, Rev. Barber asked the question “Is there no room in the inn?”

Here are the first few minutes of Rev. Barber’s message.

Frontpaged. A.

Over the past three days, an extremist Republican wedge appears to have been driven into the heart and soul of the Old North State. In response to the (gasp) horror of allowing children of illegal immigrants to attend community colleges in North Carolina, we have witnessed a stunning level of political expediency among five of the six people who consider themselves worthy of holding our state's highest elected office - plus the one already holding it.

The debacle started predictably enough with the two richest Republican candidates, Fred Smith and Bill Graham. Smith has made his fortunes on the backs of working class people who have shoveled his dirt and poured his concrete with no need for education whatsoever. Graham's future is even more tightly tied to sustaining ignorance among a permanent underclass that will buy his never-ending stream of anti-government rhetoric. There's no surprise with these two, none at all.

Then Bob Orr joined the party, quickly followed by Richard Moore, and this morning by Beverly Perdue. Along the way, Governor Mike Easley himself joined the debate, sort of, saying he wouldn't comment on the policy.

A recent policy change by the North Carolina Community College System is stirring up all kinds of consternation, and our friends at the Pope Civitas Institute are in the middle of it.

Earlier this month, the NCCCS lawyer (David Sullivan) issued a policy memo to the state's 57 community colleges directing them to admit undocumented individuals. Previously, about a third of the state's community colleges had policies that denied admission to undocumented individuals. About a third more had no formal policy on the issue, but had practices that effectively barred undocumented individuals from attending.

As an educator, I work with the children of undocumented immigrants every day. They are top performers in high schools across the state, and they have a lot to offer to their new home if only we would let them.

See, when kids are in school they learn more than the curriculum. They learn the American Dream. Every day they hear "If you work hard and get your education, you can be whatever you want to be." Except that for these kids, the rug gets pulled out from under them as soon as they graduate from high school.

Morally, I think it's anti-American to pitch the American Dream to children of immigrants and then withhold education and opportunity from them. Economically, we need these students fully participating in our workforce to sustain our economic strength in the 21st century.

Read more below the fold...