Thread: Outrage! Mexican education comes to U.S.

This is an outrage! Let Mexico educate Mexican Nationals IN MEXICO!!! Permanent residents should be speaking ENGLISH!

Mexican education comes to U.S.

Adult immigrants can complete their basic education in Spanish at one of 13 centers across L.A. County.
By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 11, 2008
Florentino Vidal began working on his family's ranch in Mexico at age 7, forgoing grammar and high school for a childhood spent growing lettuce, carrots, watermelon and tomatoes.

Vidal, 47, said he knows the Spanish alphabet and can read some, but gets confused writing much more than his name. Now he will have the opportunity to resume his studies and earn his Mexican diploma here in the United States.

The Mexican government opened its latest Plaza Comunitaria, or Community Plaza, Thursday at San Fernando Middle School, minutes from Vidal's house. There are 13 such centers throughout Los Angeles County, aimed at helping Mexican nationals complete their basic education. The centers offer free classes, in person or through video and the Internet, to Mexican nationals living in the U.S.

"They are leaving our country without that education," said Mario Velazquez, acting consul general at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. "We have failed in giving education to those Mexicans. We must try our best to give that education, even if they are abroad."

More than 40% of Mexican nationals over age 25 living in the U.S. had less than a ninth-grade education, according to 2005 data compiled by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Consular officials said the Spanish-language classes improve immigrants' self-esteem and enable them to help their children with schoolwork. The education in their native tongue also better prepares immigrants to learn English and encourages their assimilation. Hundreds of Mexican nationals have taken classes since the first local center opened in 2003. There are similar programs elsewhere, including San Jose and San Bernardino.

Vidal, a legal permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. in 1979, said he and his wife raised their four children to value education and not to take anything for granted. The eldest now attends Cal State Northridge.

"We would tell them to study, study, study, until we got mad," he said.

Vidal wanted to study but said he was busy working construction to support his family. At the opening of the San Fernando center Thursday, Vidal flipped through a third-grade Mexican geography book. He said he was interested in learning about the history of his country so he could pass that culture along to his children.

Jose Palmillas, 34, who also attended the opening, started high school in Mexico but dropped out after one year to work in Mexico and then to come to the United States. Palmillas, a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he has earned the same salary in his maintenance job for many years and believes that finishing his education will enable him to advance in his career.

"I feel like something is missing," Palmillas said. "I couldn't attend school when I was young, but now I am going to study to get ahead."

Palmillas said he also wants to be a good role model for his children, ages 1, 11, 13 and 18.

Laura Gonzalez, a parent community facilitator for the Los Angeles Unified School District, works with about 70 students at a Plaza Comunitaria near Roscoe Elementary School in Sun Valley. Many come to her unable to read or write.

That illiteracy affects people in all aspects of their lives, including their ability to get apartments and jobs, said Daryabuth Martinez, program assistant at the Plaza Comunitaria at Cerritos College. Many parents have enrolled in classes at her center so they can learn to read to their children or grandchildren, or so they can more easily learn English and move past low-wage cleaning and restaurant jobs.

Space for the program is provided by schools and community centers, and the Mexican government supplies the textbooks. Students work at their own pace with the help of mostly volunteer teachers or tutors.

"They don't just learn how to read and write but how to grow as people," Martinez said.

San Fernando Middle School Principal Rafael Balderas said his goal is to build a "college-going culture."

"Remind your parents that we are pushing you through high school to graduate, not to be a dropout," Balderas told young students on hand for the opening Thursday. "But you know what? Your parents need to do the same thing. They now have the opportunity to go and get their GED, to become a United States citizen, to vote and to make a difference in the country."

Marisela Soto, 32, stopped going to school after sixth grade in Mexico but enrolled in classes at a Plaza Comunitaria in Los Angeles. Before taking the classes, Soto said, she was embarrassed to speak in public and worried about her inability to help her children with their homework.

Since enrolling, Soto said, "My self-confidence grew a lot."

On Thursday, she stood before a crowded auditorium at San Fernando Middle School and invited parents to follow her lead and go back to school.

anna.gorman@latimes.com


http://tinyurl.com/3bc88p

I wonder if the gov. will pay for my hospitalization and medical costs when I develop high blood pressure and have a stroke from reading stories like this one!!!!! Get them out of my country NOW!!! It's out of control!! A Mexican diploma in America??? Stop the world, I want to get off!!!!!!

Originally Posted by AmericanMe

I wonder if the gov. will pay for my hospitalization and medical costs when I develop high blood pressure and have a stroke from reading stories like this one!!!!! Get them out of my country NOW!!! It's out of control!! A Mexican diploma in America??? Stop the world, I want to get off!!!!!!

I am ready to get off with you. I have had it! I have never in my life seen a bigger group of moochers, deadbeats and leeches! Why are my tax dollars paying for this? Why bother to work at all? Why not just sit back and suck off the giant American teat like they do? ALL I WANT TO DO IS LIVE WITH OTHER AMERICAN CITIZENS!! Send these lawbreakers home now! Get them the he11 out of my country!

It just keeps getting better all the time, doesn't it? When is this insanity going to stop?

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

It just keeps getting better all the time, doesn't it? When is this insanity going to stop?

It sure won't stop if a Democrat becomes president.

Ya know there are some days that I can read this site for hours and get pissy, then there days that I read one article and reach the highest levels of pisstivity and have to go clean something..... Today, is one of those days

tinybobidaho wrote

It just keeps getting better all the time, doesn't it? When is this insanity going to stop?

I'm afraid its not going to stop until the American Militia (my own made up name) has another tea party and a call to arms!!

Problem is...(Most) of the R's are wimps, too! I had some renewed enthusiam for Fred Thompson last night....he really became animated at that debate; I've liked his platform from the start, but thought he could never last through a campaign. Maybe there's hope for Fred! Maybe a Thompson/Romney ticket...or vice versa.

Originally Posted by avenger

tinybobidaho wrote

It just keeps getting better all the time, doesn't it? When is this insanity going to stop?

I'm afraid its not going to stop until the American Militia (my own made up name) has another tea party and a call to arms!!

They are going to lob one at us one time too many and the American people are going to start cooking off. There will be no way in he11 to stop it.

There needs to be a citizens revolt for things like this. My pissy level is at an all time high this morning! STOP THE MADNESS!