Schools and Illegal Immigrants: Since when is declining enrollment a good thing?

"____________ of Stone Mountain is glad the new law is encouraging illegal immigrants to pull their children out of DeKalb’s cash-strapped school system.

'I don’t see a downside to that because — especially here in DeKalb County — we are talking now about having to close schools and go in different directions to try to give the children the best education,' said _____, a member of the Dustin Inman Society, which advocates enforcement of U.S. immigration and employment laws.

'Smaller class sizes are certainly going to be a benefit in an environment like we have here in DeKalb County.'"

- AJC, June 18, 2011 [Note: I retracted the name, because...well, you'll figure out why.]

          Last week, the AJC published an article on the potential effects of a potential decline in student enrollment due to the coming enforcement of an anti-illegal immigrant law here in Georgia. Illegal immigration is a hot-button issue here in Georgia, so I'm used to reading articles on it and reading/hearing nonsensical commentary. However, every once in a while, you read something so stupid, you must comment on it BECAUSE YOU MAY BLOW IF YOU DON'T RESPOND!!! See what this person has made me do? I'm yelling on a computer. 

Because there is so much wrong with the statement I pulled out, I'm going to go line-by-line with this. 

- "'I don’t see a downside to [illegal immigrants pulling their children out of school] because — especially here in DeKalb County — we are talking now about having to close schools and go in different directions to try to give the children the best education,'"

           Declining enrollment won't keep schools open. In fact, just the opposite will happen. Want proof? 11Alive reports that, "The DeKalb County School Board voted...to close eight underpopulated schools in order to save money, and redraw school district lines to accommodate other shifts in population over the years that have filled other schools beyond their capacity." Underpopulated schools waste money, and district lines will get redrawn to save money. This would happen with or without the children of illegal immigrants in the equation. To account for the other side of the coin (i.e. the relief of overpopulated schools), consider this: even with the overpopulated schools, they are still closing schools because they still have too much space. Seems to me like the children of illegal immigrants have a small effect, if any, on the space/school closure issue in DeKalb. 

           By the way, what does it mean to "go in different directions" to give our kids the best education possible and why it is implied to be a bad idea? Clearly in the person's county, a different direction is not a bad idea. Unless the person wants to continue the trends seen here and here. 

"When words fail to describe the dismay..."

- "'Smaller class sizes are certainly going to be a benefit in an environment like we have here in DeKalb County.'"

          Make no mistake, I'll never say that class size doesn't matter, because in my own experience, it does. It affects the types of activities that can be reasonable done, how much time I have with individuals, my workload, et cetera. I'll even admit that it affects achievement, which is the larger purpose behind smaller classes; we want to boost our students' achievement! However, consider a few questions. How do we define achievement? Are there other effects on achievement other than class size? What are the other effects of class size? I'll give you a jumping point to explore these issues if you choose: Type in "what affects achievement" into Google Scholar and see what you get. Pick your three favorites and read them. Then respond to following:

1. State the definition of achievement that you found from the articles. List the similarities and differences between the definitions. 

2. What were the researchers examining in the articles you read? What effect did the variable have on achievement?

          Without giving the gory details (as I've been reading on the issue of achievement for a while now), I'll say that I've been hard-pressed to find a singular definition of "achievement". Some define it as some test score, and others define it as some possession of skills or abilities. "Achievement" is a bit of a moving target. As it turns out, so is the issue of class size. Some studies say low is the way to go. Some say that it doesn't matter. Others say it's good for x grade level but not for y grade level. The consensus behind class size effects is...drumroll.... There is no consensus! How anti-climatic! We don't know the real effects of class size, so one can't make the argument for it.  

"For when one facepalm doesn't cut it."

        If I may further put salt on the wound, let me go back for a second. I think it's cute that this person thinks that class sizes will be reduced if/when illegal immigrants pull their kids out of school, especially because DeKalb is consolidating schools due to underpopulation. 

Get it? It's a cute polar bear!

        To be fair, this person is not the only one who is off-base, to put it nicely. As much as I like the AJC Get Schooled Blog for allowing for spirited discussion on education issues and questions, this same discussion can bring out a lot of ugly. The blog post discussing how the decline in student enrollment might affect teaching jobs brought out the ugly in full effect. 

        Illegal immigration is a big deal in country that comes with a lot of political and social "baggage", so to speak. However, when it comes to talking about children and their education, the nonsense needs to go. Whether or not my position of illegal immigration is clear here, we all should agree that it is never a good idea to have uneducated children living in our society, simply because of who their parents are and where their parents come from. In every classroom, every kid should be taught. I hope that's what everyone wants out of their kid's teacher. If not, some should steer clear of my classroom. 

That's sums it up!