ROGERS : Teachers learn ways to present immigration
Posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2008
ROGERS — Northwest Arkansas teachers met Monday to develop strategies for teaching about immigration issues in classrooms that are increasingly filled with students who’ve recently moved to the United States from Latin American countries.
More than 30 teachers assembled at the Arkansas World Trade Center for lectures centered on the economic and social factors of migration in an event coordinated by the Bessie Moore Center for Economic Education at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
“We all know the United States has always been a nation of immigrants,” said Rita Littrell, the center’s director. “What we want the students to think about is, if we’re going to allow immigration, who should it be ?”
In a sample classroom activity, teachers took cards with profiles of people in hypothetical situations and interviewed one another to determine how that person would react to more or less restrictive U. S. immigration policies.
The illustration put a human face on issues such as labor shortages, strained government resources and “brain drain,” or the loss of skilled workers.
In one scenario, the mayor of a fictional city called “Spruceton” told of a struggle to balance his city’s budget after an influx of residents from other countries. In another, a Nigerian doctor wanted to move to the United States to have better resources to do his job.
“We think of it from our perspective, but, in all of these decisions, it’s a global impact,” Littrell said. “There are people who are helped and hurt around the globe because of immigration.”
This data is particularly important in Northwest Arkansas, which reflected a trend among Southern states of disproportionate Hispanic population growth over the past two decades.
Data from the U. S. Census Bureau shows that Benton County had the country’s fast- est-growing Hispanic population from 1990-2000, from 1, 359 residents to 13, 469. Washington County ranked third, jumping from 1, 526 Hispanic residents to 12, 932.
The partnership between the world trade center and UA is one of several economics organizations urging teachers to use the global financial crisis as a platform to explain global issues.
Understanding the economic dynamic of immigration is crucial in light of the current global financial crisis, said Javier Reyes, UA assistant professor of economics.
Job losses in the United States, particularly in the manufacturing sector, can slow movement of immigrants because they are unable to earn enough here to send wages back to families in native countries, he said. The U. S. Department of Labor reported 6. 5 percent unemployment in October. Employment has fallen by 1. 2 million jobs in the first 10 months of 2008, and more than half of the decrease has occurred in the past three months. In Mexico, where many of Northwest Arkansas’ Hispanic students originated, the value of the peso has slipped nearly 30 percent against the U. S. dollar in the past two months. This change adds strain to a shrinking middle class in Mexico, but it also produces additional incentives for foreign workers to move to the United States and send money back home, Reyes said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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