Welcome to Essential Education, our daily look at education in California and beyond.
Welcome to Essential Education, our daily look at education in California and beyond. Here’s the latest:
Despite President Trump ’s removal of the shield that has protected 800,000 Dreamers from deportation, Bryan Peña, 18, refuses to suddenly slink into the shadows. Instead, he plans to get louder, more public, more emphatic about his right to stay.
“This is where I want to live, ” Peña said. “This is the only life I know.”
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A real-time civics lesson could be coming to some classrooms in Los Angeles whose teachers are among the 800,000 young immigrants currently protected from deportation by DACA.
An organization that could be particularly hard hit by the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach for two years in schools in low-income communities. Some of the recruits decide to stay on as teachers.
TFA-LA has about 230 teachers in Los Angeles, including 16 who have DACA to thank for being able to work without fear of deportation. Twelve other DACA beneficiaries came out of the TFA-LA program and have continued teaching after their two-year stints.
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Major philanthropic gifts by Chinese Americans have surged nearly fivefold to almost $500 million in recent years, with most of the money going to higher education, a new study has found.
Philanthropy by donors in China also soared as the nation’s roaring economy produced more billionaires than in the United States and helped fuel a 430% increase in a decade in the number of registered charitable foundations in China — 5,545 in 2016, the study reported. In 2014, Chinese philanthropic giving reached $16.7 billion.
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The news can teach you lessons and teachers have your back.
That’s the message David Wiltz told his social studies students at Thomas Jefferson High School south of downtown L.A. on Tuesday.
The juniors, a mix of English learners and special-needs students, fidgeted, listened and rested their heads on their desks as Wiltz engaged them in a conversation about President Trump’s decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“Quick question: Did you hear what happened this morning?” he asked, pointing a long ruler at students. “What did Trump do this morning?
“DACA is stopped, ” one student said. Wiltz asked for more details. The students piped up, mostly one at a time.
“He made a program to protect immigrants, something called Dreamers, ” said a teen in the front, his arms and head propped on th gray camouflage print knapsack on his desk.
“Didn’ t Obama make it?” asked another student.
Wiltz commended the students for helping one another answer, explained the details of Tuesday’s announcement and then gave them five minutes to Google the news on their phones.
He told them that Trump had left it to Congress to take action within six months, when he will end the DACA program.
“If by March nothing is figured out, DACA is rescinded and 800,000 people stand a chance of being deported, ” Wiltz said. “This is why it’s very important to know about our current events. The one thing we need to understand is what it is versus what people are freaking out about.”
He emphasized the importance of research: “The idea [of ending DACA] is absolutely terrible, let’s not get it twisted. But we need to know what it is in order for us to combat it.”
The classroom looks out onto Jefferson’s quad, a green space with picnic tables and big, leafy trees. It was warm, because the air conditioner hadn’t been working for half the period.
Wiltz called the class to order and shared a personal example of how DACA can affect people. He has a friend, he said, who moved to the U. S. as a 5-year-old, went to Cal State L.A. and now works as a clerk. She had called him that morning and said she was worried about being deported.
Wiltz asked the students whether they knew anyone in a similar situation?
“My mom, my dad, my uncle, my family, ” said a boy in the front row.
“This is why it’s important to be aware of what’s going on, ” Wiltz said.
“I’ m going to be adopted and they’ ll deport my mom, ” the boy said.
“No, you’ re not, ” Wiltz said.
He began to try to reassure the class.
“No one is ever going to give up your personal information. No one will ever say whether you’ re undocumented, ” Wiltz said. “I will go to jail before I give up your guys’ information.”
In case that message didn’ t quite sink in, he kept on going. “You can best believe we will protect you all the way up to putting me in jail, ” he said. “Does everybody understand that?”
Leaders of five California education systems joined forces Tuesday to urge Congress to extend protections against deportations for young immigrants who entered the United States as children.
President Trump announced Tuesday that he would phase out the Obama-era policy, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that postponed deportations of nearly 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally or fell out of legal status before age 16.
« We are deeply disappointed by President Trump’s callous and misguided decision to effectively end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, » the leaders wrote in a letter to the California congressional delegation. « This is a step backward for our nation — a nation built by immigrants. It unnecessarily punishes hundreds of thousands of bright young people who were brought to this country as children and are contributing members of American society. America is their home and today’s action will not only derail futures, but it will deprive California and the nation of the promise and potential DACA participants possess. »
The letter was signed by University of California President Janet Napolitano, California State University Chancellor Timothy White, California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, California Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Kristen Soares, president of the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities.
In a separate letter to the majority and minority leaders in the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, Napolitano urged bipartisan action, reminding them that young people who received DACA benefits had undergone « exhaustive background investigations to ensure they are not a security threat, » completed high school-level educations and had not been convicted of felonies or major misdemeanors.
Napolitano, who served as secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, was one of the architects of the DACA policy.
A real-time civics lesson could be coming to some classrooms in Los Angeles whose teachers are among the 800,000 young immigrants protected from deportation by DACA.
An organization that could be particularly hard hit by the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach for two years in schools in low-income communities. Some of the recruits decide to stay on as teachers.
TFA-LA, which has about 230 teachers in L.A., currently has 16 who have DACA to thank for being able to work without fear of deportation. Twelve other DACA beneficiaries came out of the TFA-LA program and have continued teaching after their two-year stints.
Nationwide, TFA has hired 198 teachers protected under DACA. Of those, 95 are current corps members, and 93 continued to teach after leaving the program.
DACA beneficiaries, frequently referred to as « Dreamers, » have proven to be a good match for TFA, which has faced criticism for recruiting a teacher corps more white and privileged than the student population.
« We decided to recruit Dreamers when it became apparent to us that we had undocumented students in many of our classrooms, » said TFA managing director Kathryn Phillips. « A teacher is often the first adult an undocumented student will ask for help. Any teacher can help, but teachers that share the life experience of being undocumented — and have navigated the education system as an undocumented student — can be an additional inspiration or role model. »
President Trump announced Tuesday he would phase out the DACA program over six months, pending action by Congress.
The local teachers who could be affected include Jose Gonzalez, whose parents brought him to the United States from Mexico just before his second birthday.
He went on to graduate from Trump’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Gonzalez was lauded by the Obama White House for his work teaching in a Los Angeles charter school.
Taking in the shock of the DACA announcement, Gonzalez, through TFA, said Tuesday that he was not yet ready to be interviewed.
Leaders of California State University and California Community Colleges, the largest public university systems in the nation, joined in denouncing the Trump administration’s decision Tuesday to end protections for thousands of young immigrants.
“Ending DACA is a heartless and senseless decision that goes against American ideals and basic human decency, » said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the state community college system, which educates 2.1 million students on 114 campuses. About 61,000 of the system’s students in 2015 received in-state tuition under AB 540, the state’s closest proxy for estimating the number of students without legal status.
« Those who are affected by this decision were brought to this country as children and are pursuing an education and making contributions to their communities, » Oakley said in a statement. « Some have served in the armed forces defending this country. In California, we don’ t put dreams – or Dreamers – on hold. »
California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White said he was « deeply disappointed » by the decision, but assured immigrant students that changes in federal policy would not affect their ability to enroll at CSU schools, pay in-state tuition or receive state financial aid. Of the system’s 480,000 students on 23 campuses, about 10,000 received in-state tuition benefits under AB 540 in 2015.
« Our mission to provide excellent educational opportunities to all Californians shall not waiver, » White said in a message to the campus community. « We will continue to vigorously pursue the CSU’s commitment to advance and extend knowledge, learning and culture; to provide opportunities for individuals to develop intellectually, personally and professionally; and to prepare educated and responsible alumni who are ready and able to contribute to California’s culture and economy. »
Both chancellors vowed to support efforts to press Congress to restore the DACA protections.
White invited immigrant students to explore information about their rights, the potential effect of the DACA repeal and available campus resources.
Oakley also provided information about resources for community college students. He voiced his support for them on Twitter:
Some kids came to school on Tuesday with questions about their future in the U. S., in light of President Trump’s decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
At Thomas Jefferson High School in South L.A., social studies teacher David Wiltz told his class, which includes English learners and special education students, that he would do whatever was in his power to protect them.
At 7: 30 a.m. Tuesday, Yael Pineda gathered with about a dozen others at the UCLA Labor Center to watch a livestream of the Trump administration’s announcement on whether it would extend protections for nearly 800,000 young immigrants like herself.
When U. S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions announced the government would rescind the Obama-era policy known as DACA that has deferred deportation proceedings and let these immigrants study and work, the room went dead silent, Pineda said.
« There was disbelief at the way Jeff Sessions was framing it – that we take jobs, that we’re criminals, » said the 22-year-old, who is on track to graduate from UCLA this month in psychology and labor and workplace studies.
But as the news sank in, Pineda said, another sentiment surfaced: a determination to reject fear and unite with others to press Congress to extend the protections.
« We need to not be afraid. We need to not let cops and Congress terrorize us, » Pineda said.
