Illegal Immigration

Battle B

Illegal Immigration

            Immigration has played a major role in our country, without it, we would not be where we are today. This country is a nation of immigrants; they have helped keep our nation youthful and enriched our economy. They bring new ideas to the table; as well as providing us with new business opportunity, enhancing our trade and economy. Most people have the perception that immigrants take away jobs from Americans, but that is very rarely the case, most immigrants’ however work on the low ends of the skill spectrum, such as hotels, construction, and domestic service.

            Though immigration is a good thing, that benefits America, illegal immigration is not. Pew Research  states that in 2012 there was a total of 11.2 million illegal immigrants, making up 3.5% of our nations' population. The stereotype pertaining to illegal immigration is usually Mexicans, illegally crossing the boarder, and this happens to be somewhat true. Though there number has been decreasing, about half of illegal immigrants (52%) are Mexicans. According to Pew Research Estimates, Mexican illegal immigration has gone down from 6.4 million in 2009 to 5.9 million in 2012 living illegally in the U.S. 

           This stereotype also goes hand in hand with crime, according to The Constitution Party, illegal immigrants have unfortunately increased gangs, most Illegal Immigrants drive without license or any knowledge of what the roadsigns mean. Even worse it is estimated that thirteen Americans are killed everyday due to illegal immigrants driving under the Influence, more specifically 97% out of the 63% are illegal immigrants in Arizona who have no license, insurance, and no registration. A statistic from FBI studies show that 75% on the most wanted list are Illegal Immigrants in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. 

            California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois make up 60% of the illegal immigration population. In Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and virgin, the illegal immigrant population has increased. While in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, New Mexico, and Oregon have all decreased. Illegal immigrants also make up over half of the labor force in America, Nevada (10%), California (9%), Texas (9%) and New Jersey (8%), all these states had the highest illegal immigration labor forces.

            One of the major conflicts of illegal immigration is the word itself, “illegal immigration.” When first coming upon this, I was very confused, why is the word such a big conflict? Shouldn’t we be more concerned with the issue itself? According to Visa Now, the word illegal immigration is offensive and dehumanizing. Just because the person might be doing illegal things, they are not illegal, just like someone who has to have Down Syndrome, they are not Down Syndrome, they are just diagnosed with it. Down Syndrome does not define the person, just like being an illegal immigrant does not define them. President Barack Obama has even become cautious about the word “Illegal Immigrants,” in his recent speech discussing the issue, addressed them as “undocumented immigrants.”

            As I have just mentioned, President Obama recently gave a speech on Immigration, in this speech he addressed his concerns and hopes for the future of immigration. Over the years there have been many laws created to stop not just Illegal but Legal Immigration as well, for example dating back to the Chinese Exclusion Act dating all the way back to 1882 all the way the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990. President Obama introduced his new actions by saying, “First, we’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings, and speed the return of those who do cross over. Second, I’ll make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders have proposed. Third, we’ll take steps to deal responsibly with the millions of undocumented immigrants who already live in our country.” He then proposed a “deal” that allows for illegal immigrants who have been living in America for over five years, or have children born (America citizens), if you register and have not gotten in trouble with the law, and agree to pay their taxes, they will be allowed to stay in America temporarily without being deported.

            Immigration is not a negative thing; it is what makes our nation unique and youthful. We have and always will be a nation of immigrants. However illegal immigration has been and continues to be a serious problem, though easier said then done. In my humble opinion we need to figure out a way to keep the hard working, diligent illegal (or undocumented) immigrants who benefit our country, and send back the law-breaking criminals.   

Chart of the estimate percent of illegal immigration in 1980

Chart of Mexican illegal immigration in the U.S.

A cartoon depicting an Illegal Immigration

A political cartoon representing Lady Liberty figuratively stirring up citizenship with equal rights 

A chart showing the amount of illegal immigration in different countries and the increase or decrease over the years. Also notice how it is titled "Unauthorized Immigrants" instead of "Illegal Immigrants."

Sources:

• This website taught me about the controversy over the word "illegal immigrant" and the appropriate substitutions for the word.
• This website was helpful because it gave me insight on the current actions being put into action.
• This website was helpful because when I usually think about Immigrants I tend to have the negative outlook, but this website focused on all the positives and benefits Immigrants bring.
• Pew Research was helpful because I like to know the facts, and this is what this website focused on.
• This website was helpful because it gave me a lot of facts and statistics of crimes pertaining to Illegal Immigration.
• This website taught me the progression of the different laws and acts about Immigration.

Cinderella Man

Battle Black

Cinderella Man Essay

       "A person can learn quite a bit about life in America during the depression just from watching the film Cinderella Man" 

        I agree with this statement because the movie is not only successful in being entertaining but it also puts us in perspective of how life was in the 1930's and more specifically in the Great Depression.

     One of America's biggest struggles during the Great depression was unemployment. Many men were desperately trying to find jobs to be able to provide for their family and in the movie it teaches us just how bad the conditions were. In Cinderella Man, they show several times, James Braddock, along with other men, standing outside of a gate hoping to get picked for a job just for that day. One day in particular James does not get picked and has to go back home, while leaving the gate James walks passed a newspaper on the ground, saying how unemployment has gone up to fifteen million Americans, this small detail shows just how bad the unemployment had been. 

     The competition was so tough that most men did not even work two times a day, so providing for their wife and children became a major problem. During the Great Depression, many families could not afford to take care of their families and were forced to send their children off to stay with relatives who were not suffering. This is depicted in the movie by Mae (James Braddock’s wife), when they cant afford to pay their electricity bill, she accepts the fact that her kids were suffering from the shortage of money physically, and so made the tough decision to send her kids away, to go stay with her relatives. When James comes home and discovers what she has done, he has to do the one thing he can do get his children back. To support and reunite his family, he becomes one of six hundred thousand in New Jersey to apply for government relief. James receives the money and is able to reunite his family once again, and later once his boxing career takes off, he pays back every penny he borrowed.

      Cinderella man is also accurate for the different attitude of the people during this time. James, like most people in this era, looked at the situation as just misfortune and bad luck. However, Mike, his stubborn friend, looks at The Great Depression as the government screwing all the Americans over, and wants to rebel. Mike is also shown living in Hooverville, which was an actual place the lowerclassmen lived during the Great Depression.

The most obvious reason you can learn about the Great Depression through Cinderella Man, is how it shows the popularity of boxing. During this time period boxing was one of, if not the most popular sport in America. It was cheap and very entertaining, especially for the working class. The majority of people, in this time, had conventional radios, so if even if you could no afford to go to a boxing match, you and your family could listen to it on the radio.

       Cinderella Man is not just an amazing, inspiring movie, but a movie with accurate information of the Great Depression, and showing how tough it was for all Americans of this time.

James with his kids

Field Trip to Civil Rights Institute

    On this field trip, I learned about the four girls who died in the bombing, along with two boys. I knew about the girls who died but I did not realize there were two more. I also learned about Robert Chambliss who was a member of the KKK, and was found guilty for being one of the men who bombed the church.

   The experience changed my perspective on Civil Rights issues because before, I did not realize just how unfair the "colored" people were. I knew it was segregated but I did not really understand the details of segregation until the first part of the museum when we walked in to a room comparing the lifestyles of the "whites" compared to the lifestyles of the "colored." The "colored" water fountains for example were gross and rusted compared to the clean water fountains for the "whites," the colored men and women had harder jobs but got paid less. It definitely made me sympathize for those who people.

 This trip can be justified in the same way watching movies in school can be justified. Seeing something and physically looking at the facts, instead of just reading about it, can stick with you longer then just reading.

Questions about World War I

Battle B
US History

1. World War 1 began July 28, 1914 because of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary. The war was fought between two groups of allies, the allies included Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and United States. The central powers were Germany and Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

2. The United States entered the war April 6, 1917, because Germany went against their pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.

3. World War 1 ended on November 11, 1918, because of the Versailles Treaty.

4.  On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. The United States did not sign the treaty, however, because it objected to its terms, specifically, the high price that Germany was to pay for its role as aggressor. Instead, the U.S. negotiated its own settlement with Germany in 1921.

5. Could World War have been avoided, of so how? Why is World War I also called "the Great War"?

 

Progressive Era of Education

Battle B

Education

Education has come tremendously far since the progressive era. From the expectations of the students in their classes to the classes the teachers taught. Nowadays kids are expected to attend school from kindergarten to twelfth grade and then hopefully to college, to get a college education, however this was not the case before the Progressive Era. During this time, for the majority of kids, attending high school was an unrealistic dream that would never happen. 

       

            The purpose of education was to educate the kids, on what was necessary to function in their lives. Primary schools were as far as most women got in their education because they only needed a basic education to run their husbands household. Men (especially white men) however were more fortunate and attended school longer. For working-class men the level of schooling they got, was usually up to their teenage years, which is modernly called, middle school, however for the higher class men they usually went on to complete high school.  Some men got the privilege of attending a college, but only the middle and upper classes and was much more rare as it is today.

            Today everyone gets the privilege to have an education, whether it come from a public school or a private school. It does not matter necessarily what class your family is in or where you live. However before the Progressive Era this was not the case, education was based on who you were, not what you are capable of doing. Women, black females, and males did not get the same opportunities as most white males because of who they were, and their class. Thankfully today that as changed so that everyone can have the “American Dream” and get the education they long to have, no matter what their social status may be, but through scholarships.

            The evolution of education through the Progressive Era was credited to John Dewey. Dewey created a new approach to learning, one that emphasized on the rate of learning with a more flexible, democratic view, which enabled to students to acquire knowledge to accustom the reality of their daily lives. John Dewey saw education as the answer for making up for the loss of the decline of local community life and small-scale enterprise, which young people were missing.

Progressive education includes two key points, for example the first being that each individual should be acknowledged for his or her own abilities. Parallel to the Albert Einstein’s quote of, if you base a fish on how smart it is by testing how will the fish can climb up the tree then the fish will go through life thinking it is an idiot. Each person has there own unique talent, and thanks to the Progressive Era this concept is recognized. The second point was that critical and socially engaging intelligence allows individuals to participate in the activities of the community.

Cite Page:

Overview of Progressive Education

-       This website was useful because it helped me become more knowledgeable on what “progressive education” means, and facts the essential elements that progressive education involves.

Hiram Johnsons Impact

-       This website was useful because it introduced me to Hiram Johnson who helped improve education, mostly in public schools, with his position in government.

What Goes Around Comes Around: History Education

-       This website was useful to me because it introduced me to “The Committee of Ten” and taught me how the subjects they thought were most important and why.

The Old Deluder Act

-       Even though this Act is way before the time period we are researching, it was helpful in understanding how education has progressed.

Summary of John Deweys Book

-       This website was useful by giving me a summary of what John Dewey beliefs, and what he taught in regards to education.

Reform and Growth of Urban Education

            - This website was useful because it helped me better understand the education expectation of the lower and upper classes.

American History Textbook

            -Introduced me to John Dewey and his role in Progressive Education.

Picture of The Old Deluder Act

Cover of John Deweys Book

Photo of John Dewey

Photo of Hiram Johnson

Picture of The Committee of Ten report