One of the things that I do for my assistantship that I love is making promotional flyers for events. This one is one of the more simple one's I made, but it really has me thinking a lot of privilege and aspirations.
The College of Education in conjunction with others has been putting on a series of events surrounding the bill that was passed in Georgia prohibiting undocumented students from attending five of the major public universities , UGA being one of them. To be honest, I am not sure where I stand on the issue of undocumented immigrants overall. What I can say about it is that I can honestly understand their plight, in part. Many of them are coming from countries in which the conditions prevent them from striving after their dreams. Under such circumstances, I can understand coming to this country under any means necessary to at least try to have a chance at that. I have friends that are undocumented and they are some of the hardest working, kind, and grateful people I know. But, I do understand the cost of undocumented immigrants as well and can't ignore that.
When it comes to higher education, though... It is already difficult for them to get there and the university system makes sure they pay for it (they have to pay out-of-state tuition regardless of where they actually live). The argument is that they take the place of students that could be going to the schools. In a perfect system that might be a valid argument save for two things: 1) the nepotism that is incessant in higher education ("Oh you are the daughter of a senator? Come right on it! It doesn't matter that you have a 2.1 GPA and someone with a better GPA will no be allowed in.") 2)If these students are performing well enough in schools that they can gain entry into the more selective schools, why deny them entry. The only make the campus the better for it.
"Our dreams can't wait." That was a statement that I stumbled across connected to this issues. You give me someone who has endured the hardship (or their parents, whomever) to pick up, leave everything else behind, work extra hard to achieve (don't get me started in the laziness of today's culture...) and I'll give you a prime candidate for higher education.
The problem is we have forgotten what the purpose of it really is.
