Who do you include in the common good?
The Center frequently engages in conversations about the common good. People understand the general concept of the common good, but find it a challenge to define it in practical terms. Real issues bring to focus the differing views of the common good. Immigration is one of those issues.
We find it helpful in these discussions to ask a basic question - "Who is included in your view of the common good?" This often leads to a defining conversation, particularly when people need to explain whether or not others can enjoy the benefits they receive from the common good.
Regarding immigration, some want law enforcement officers to be able to ask people they stop to prove citizenship. This raises the concern that this policy is meant, not for those of European descent, but the more recent immigrants of color. Is this just another way to divide people into those who we assume belong and those we question?
Some have argued that children born in the US to illegal immigrants should not be given automatic citizenship. They only want citizenship for those whose parents came here legally. Yet being born on US soil has been a clear rationale for citizenship since the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Is the suggestion to change this yet another way to change the rules to exclude others?
It is can be hard to extend the common good to “the other” – whoever that is for you. And yet, this is one of the tests of whether or not we truly believe in the common good. Who will you invite to share in your common good?
The Center frequently engages in conversations about the common good. People understand the general concept of the common good, but find it a challenge to define it in practical terms. Real issues bring to focus the differing views of the common good. Immigration is one of those issues.
We find it helpful in these discussions to ask a basic question - "Who is included in your view of the common good?" This often leads to a defining conversation, particularly when people need to explain whether or not others can enjoy the benefits they receive from the common good.
Regarding immigration, some want law enforcement officers to be able to ask people they stop to prove citizenship. This raises the concern that this policy is meant, not for those of European descent, but the more recent immigrants of color. Is this just another way to divide people into those who we assume belong and those we question?
Some have argued that children born in the US to illegal immigrants should not be given automatic citizenship. They only want citizenship for those whose parents came here legally. Yet being born on US soil has been a clear rationale for citizenship since the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Is the suggestion to change this yet another way to change the rules to exclude others?
It is can be hard to extend the common good to “the other” – whoever that is for you. And yet, this is one of the tests of whether or not we truly believe in the common good. Who will you invite to share in your common good?
The Promise of America – Immigrants as Life Blood
President Obama recently announced that he would halt the deportation of undocumented, immigrant youth who are good students, law abiding, and who have been in the U.S. for five years. He explained that it "makes no sense to expel talented young people" who have essentially grown up here and see themselves as American. The decision has prompted two general points of view. Some people view this as a great humanitarian gesture, working to give young people who are American in every way but on paper a path to citizenship. Others see this as a step towards amnesty, giving these undocumented individuals unfair advantages. But is it, as the President remarked, the right thing to do? During a recent trip to New York, Center for Ethical Leadership staff got a different view from inside an immigrant community.
The Center hosted a national Community Learning Exchange in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, a community of 200,000, many who are Latino immigrants from Central and South America. Walking around the community, participants saw this immigrant community at work, walking their children to schools, and enjoying life together in parks. These are the activities of people believing in the American dream.
Participants also gained a glimpse into the unique vantage point from which this community views America. From the hill top of Sunset Park, one can see both the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline, powerful American icons.
The Statue of Liberty was constructed as a symbol of freedom, and in the early 1900s, welcomed the majority of immigrants to the United States at Ellis Island. Waves of immigrants viewed the statue with great hope as they entered the U.S. It still serves as a reminder that we have long welcomed the world to experience liberty, not only as visitors, but as new citizens. Do we still believe in welcoming newcomers or are those days over?
The Manhattan skyline is a symbol of opportunity, that through hard work and creativity, we can build something spectacular. Immigrants helped build this skyline. Posters of immigrant steel workers walking on girders high above Manhattan as they built skyscrapers demonstrate American enterprise. Immigrants have also built our railroads, ports, and continue to serve as the foundation of our agriculture. Will we value immigrants for the contributions they make to our society or only see them as a convenient source of cheap labor?
More recently, residents of Sunset Park witnessed the tragedy on September 11, 2001. They watched the planes hit the Twin Towers and their ultimate collapse. Residents have also seen the Freedom Tower rising up, a testament to our resolve in the face of adversity. They are not only drawing strength from the important story of liberty, opportunity, resolve and resilience – immigrants are contributing to it. Every immigrant who deals with the challenges of establishing themselves in this new country demonstrates resilience to keep going when life is tough.
People immigrate to the US as refugees to escape persecution and experience new freedom or to seek economic opportunities. Some immigrants were ostracized in their countries for siding with the US in one of our foreign conflicts. Regardless of the reason, they choose to come here to participate in the compelling set of values we embody. While some of us who were born here may take this for granted, immigrants bring deep appreciation for the American Promise of opportunity and freedom. Immigrants provide not only great assets of hard work and creativity, they also provide a continuous reminder of the American dream embracing the spirit of opportunity and hope, and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
President Obama recently announced that he would halt the deportation of undocumented, immigrant youth who are good students, law abiding, and who have been in the U.S. for five years. He explained that it "makes no sense to expel talented young people" who have essentially grown up here and see themselves as American. The decision has prompted two general points of view. Some people view this as a great humanitarian gesture, working to give young people who are American in every way but on paper a path to citizenship. Others see this as a step towards amnesty, giving these undocumented individuals unfair advantages. But is it, as the President remarked, the right thing to do? During a recent trip to New York, Center for Ethical Leadership staff got a different view from inside an immigrant community.
The Center hosted a national Community Learning Exchange in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, a community of 200,000, many who are Latino immigrants from Central and South America. Walking around the community, participants saw this immigrant community at work, walking their children to schools, and enjoying life together in parks. These are the activities of people believing in the American dream.
Participants also gained a glimpse into the unique vantage point from which this community views America. From the hill top of Sunset Park, one can see both the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline, powerful American icons.
The Statue of Liberty was constructed as a symbol of freedom, and in the early 1900s, welcomed the majority of immigrants to the United States at Ellis Island. Waves of immigrants viewed the statue with great hope as they entered the U.S. It still serves as a reminder that we have long welcomed the world to experience liberty, not only as visitors, but as new citizens. Do we still believe in welcoming newcomers or are those days over?
The Manhattan skyline is a symbol of opportunity, that through hard work and creativity, we can build something spectacular. Immigrants helped build this skyline. Posters of immigrant steel workers walking on girders high above Manhattan as they built skyscrapers demonstrate American enterprise. Immigrants have also built our railroads, ports, and continue to serve as the foundation of our agriculture. Will we value immigrants for the contributions they make to our society or only see them as a convenient source of cheap labor?
More recently, residents of Sunset Park witnessed the tragedy on September 11, 2001. They watched the planes hit the Twin Towers and their ultimate collapse. Residents have also seen the Freedom Tower rising up, a testament to our resolve in the face of adversity. They are not only drawing strength from the important story of liberty, opportunity, resolve and resilience – immigrants are contributing to it. Every immigrant who deals with the challenges of establishing themselves in this new country demonstrates resilience to keep going when life is tough.
People immigrate to the US as refugees to escape persecution and experience new freedom or to seek economic opportunities. Some immigrants were ostracized in their countries for siding with the US in one of our foreign conflicts. Regardless of the reason, they choose to come here to participate in the compelling set of values we embody. While some of us who were born here may take this for granted, immigrants bring deep appreciation for the American Promise of opportunity and freedom. Immigrants provide not only great assets of hard work and creativity, they also provide a continuous reminder of the American dream embracing the spirit of opportunity and hope, and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Promise of an Educated Citizenry – The P.S. 24 Experience
To have a thriving common good in the U.S., we need both the people who became citizens by birth and those who chose to immigrate to the U.S. to become engaged in democracy. Public schools are essential to this process of engagement as they were created to provide an educated citizenry that makes our democracy work. So how are public schools doing in immigrant communities? In a recent trip to New York, Center for Ethical Leadership staff witnessed the best of America’s promise at P.S. 24, a public school in Brooklyn. They have found a way to engage their predominantly-immigrant community to work with their schools to offer a quality public education. And in doing so, they remind us of some important lessons.
The primary language of many of the families in this community is Spanish. If their English is limited, there can be a barrier to working with teachers and staff. The educators at P.S. 24 have developed a dual-language program, teaching in both Spanish and English. In this approach, language is treated as an asset rather than a deficit. From bilingual staff and faculty, children learn both languages and are able to read, write, and speak in Spanish and English by the fifth grade. A tour of classrooms with educators, parents and staff from community-based organizations was led by two third-grade girls. Jennifer and Erica served as translators when the classes were in Spanish. Many of the guests who spoke only one language wished they had the education of these two young girls. What a gift to view languages as an asset rather than a deficit!
Schools and parents are too often unable to build effective partnerships with each other. There can be many reasons for this. Many immigrant parents do not expect to be involved in the schools as they were taught to respect and defer to teachers. At P.S. 24, faculty and staff have reached out to parents and invited them to participate in the school in meaningful ways. Parents are involved in the classroom and in afterschool programs. Engaging parents offers great support for student learning. Eri Santos, an immigrant parent, talked about the impact of parent engagement on her children. Before she was involved in the school, Eri would ask her children about how their day was. They responded, “Fine,” sharing little more information. Now her children see her as part of the school. At home, her children explain what they were experiencing in particular activities and they have a much deeper level of conversation. She also reinforces the lessons offered in school each day.
It is hard for learning to take place if emotions are overwhelming students or conflicts arise at school. At P.S. 24, students learn how to identify and name their emotions and then choose a response that helps them deal with those emotions. They also learn how to resolve problems that arise between students in the classroom, lunchroom or on the playground. Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, a community-based nonprofit organization, works with P.S. 24 to integrate social and emotional learning into the classrooms and operates afterschool programs. First- and second-graders are peacemakers and can become mediators in third grade. Students are highly engaged in managing themselves and in creating a supportive overall school environment.
At P.S. 24, engaged students know how to manage themselves, resolve problems and be responsible members of the community; engaged parents are informed and actively working with teachers to support learning; community-partner organizations bring their expertise and support to schools – all good lessons for all of our public schools and communities.
To have a thriving common good in the U.S., we need both the people who became citizens by birth and those who chose to immigrate to the U.S. to become engaged in democracy. Public schools are essential to this process of engagement as they were created to provide an educated citizenry that makes our democracy work. So how are public schools doing in immigrant communities? In a recent trip to New York, Center for Ethical Leadership staff witnessed the best of America’s promise at P.S. 24, a public school in Brooklyn. They have found a way to engage their predominantly-immigrant community to work with their schools to offer a quality public education. And in doing so, they remind us of some important lessons.
The primary language of many of the families in this community is Spanish. If their English is limited, there can be a barrier to working with teachers and staff. The educators at P.S. 24 have developed a dual-language program, teaching in both Spanish and English. In this approach, language is treated as an asset rather than a deficit. From bilingual staff and faculty, children learn both languages and are able to read, write, and speak in Spanish and English by the fifth grade. A tour of classrooms with educators, parents and staff from community-based organizations was led by two third-grade girls. Jennifer and Erica served as translators when the classes were in Spanish. Many of the guests who spoke only one language wished they had the education of these two young girls. What a gift to view languages as an asset rather than a deficit!
Schools and parents are too often unable to build effective partnerships with each other. There can be many reasons for this. Many immigrant parents do not expect to be involved in the schools as they were taught to respect and defer to teachers. At P.S. 24, faculty and staff have reached out to parents and invited them to participate in the school in meaningful ways. Parents are involved in the classroom and in afterschool programs. Engaging parents offers great support for student learning. Eri Santos, an immigrant parent, talked about the impact of parent engagement on her children. Before she was involved in the school, Eri would ask her children about how their day was. They responded, “Fine,” sharing little more information. Now her children see her as part of the school. At home, her children explain what they were experiencing in particular activities and they have a much deeper level of conversation. She also reinforces the lessons offered in school each day.
It is hard for learning to take place if emotions are overwhelming students or conflicts arise at school. At P.S. 24, students learn how to identify and name their emotions and then choose a response that helps them deal with those emotions. They also learn how to resolve problems that arise between students in the classroom, lunchroom or on the playground. Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, a community-based nonprofit organization, works with P.S. 24 to integrate social and emotional learning into the classrooms and operates afterschool programs. First- and second-graders are peacemakers and can become mediators in third grade. Students are highly engaged in managing themselves and in creating a supportive overall school environment.
At P.S. 24, engaged students know how to manage themselves, resolve problems and be responsible members of the community; engaged parents are informed and actively working with teachers to support learning; community-partner organizations bring their expertise and support to schools – all good lessons for all of our public schools and communities.
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