December 15, 2007

Erica Vieyra/Olentangy H.S. teaches kids ignoring U.S. immigration laws is OK

Erica Vieyra is a Spanish teacher at Olentangy Liberty High School in Powell, Ohio (near Columbus and Cleveland), and one of her classes teaches children that ignoring U.S. immigration laws is acceptable behavior. The goal is to help them build "empathy" for "immigrants", but it's actually pro-illegal immigration propaganda that the school district should put an end to. The Office of the Superintendent (Dr. Scott Davis) is here, but I couldn't find an email; perhaps scott_davis *at* olentangy.k12.oh.us. Hers is erica_vieyra *at* olentangy.k12.oh.us. After reading about this case, please send them polite messages with your thoughts.

This minor case also shows the danger of allowing those who put their ethnicity above our laws to obtain positions of power, whether high school teacher or an elected official.

From Holly Zachariah of the Columbus Dispatch (link):

The students had a role-play project: assume a Latino identity, build an imaginary life in your home country and develop a workable plan to immigrate to the United States.

Try it legally, Erica Vieyra told her 40 senior Spanish students at Olentangy Liberty High School. Fill out the correct documents, follow the proper steps. And then, after they spent days completing the actual paperwork from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, she took out her red ink pad and stamped a big, fat DENIED across every request.

Now, she told the students, come illegally. Forge your documents, find a way across the border. Then, research real ads and find a place to live in Columbus. Figure out what it would cost, how to get food. Plan how to survive.

...Vieyra promised them that the process -- even in make-believe -- would frustrate them. But they would gain, she hoped, an understanding of what is one of the most important political and humanitarian issues facing the U.S. government today...

...But [Vieyra] cautions that the point isn't to sway the students, only to teach them a little empathy.

Related:
Brent Lueck/Cary Junior High plays "we're all immigrants"/Ellis Island game

Posted to Immigration2007b at December 15, 2007 11:31 AM