REVISION CATW 1

Could you imagine attending a College or University in a different state that allows non-citizen immigrants to pay In-state tuition fees? In the passage An Education in Citizenship excerpted from the Chicago Tribune, Illinois passed a bill recently allowing people who live in the U.S. illegally to pay in state tuition rate. The state of Illinois was not too happy with the passing of this bill because they feel like citizenship is being thrown out the window. The uneven vote shows that this was an easy vote for some of the lawmakers, when in shouldn’t have been.

In the article the writer states, “The notion that someone can have no legal right to be present in the country but be entitled a very expensive and valuable benefit is absurd on its face.” What I think is absurd on its face is the fact that many students that are U.S. citizens don’t usually have a determination, a drive to go to college let alone even finish high school. I believe students that come from other countries have more of that determination to get ahead in life. Being in this country makes them want the best for their families. Rarely are they recognized with great opportunities to attend great schools or scholarships for whatever they want to study. Students that are U.S. citizens like my brother for example in high school loved playing football and ended up receiving a football scholarship at a really good university but decided not to go for it because he didn’t feel the need to go to college at all. He just wanted to be home, party, and work his regular job thinking eventually they will bump him up to a better position. Which they never did, he’s 23 and is just working a regular job at the mall with nothing to look forward to later on in his life.

I have a friend Sarahi who just last month graduated from LaGuardia Community College. It was not until we graduated from high school and started applying to colleges that she found out she was an immigrant. Any other person (citizen) running into a big problem with college applications or something similar would have probably given up. They would not have bothered with finishing the process, she didn’t. With the determination of proving a stereotype wrong that immigrants can't study and won’t get anywhere, she got help from a professor. This helped her land a scholarship to John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Not only did she not let anything stop her, she still has hopes of one day being able to study at Columbia University.

All students legal or illegal are allowed to attend schools from Pre-K all the way through high school. At those points in the children's lives we do not label them or treat them differently, everything is equal. A contradiction occurs when its time for college, in regards to tuition. While my friend Sarahi was a very determined student and found a way to pay high out of state tuition rate. Most are not fortunate enough to find ways to pay for their tuition. We make fools of these students by applying a double standard, giving them high hopes of a career and 12 years of schooling. Only to be left in the dust when it comes time for them to go to college. If citizenship was not an issue through high school, It certainly should not be an issue at college time. That is just hypocrisy.