Immigration Reform and the Decline of Education

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Senior Fellow in Economics at the Acton Institute makes an excellent point in her May 17, 2006 blog post concerning immigration reform, French style. Immigration needs to be viewed as (a) a market phenomenon and (b) a cultural phenomenon. Libertarians are right about the value of liberal immigration policies in that such liberalism respects human rights and freedom and yields optimal economic outcomes. However, there may be social costs to American employees who have to compete with the immigrants for jobs and the often-discussed costs arising from social programs, hospitalization and similar government services.

Morse raises the important question of whether immigrants from Mexico are equipped to live in a society governed by the rule of law. I think that this is a valid and critically important question, and one that the left wingers on our campuses would not likely ask because it is a politically incorrect question.

The rule of law is fundamental to a functioning economy and a democratic society, and it is likely the fact that many third world countries are corrupt that prevents more rapid development. Mexico is a case in point. My classmate from Columbia University, Utpal Bhattycharia did a study a number of years back where he related the degree of corruption per country to the stock prices per country, and indeed found that corruption has a dampening effect on market valuation.

There are many wonderful things about Mexican culture. These include their wonderful food, the fact that Mexicans are hard working and many other assets. However, a successful political system and economy are not among their strengths. Nor is respect for the rule of law a characterisitc of Mexican culture. Indeed, the Spanish language is hardly associated with democracy. It is only in the past three decades that democracy has appeared in Spanish-speaking countries, and then in fits and starts as the likes of Castro, Chavez and Evo Morales, the most recently-elected looter in Bolivia who is nationalizing Brazil's multi-billion dollar investment in natural gas there, as Brazil's President Lula ineptly looks on.

America has faced this problem before. Immigrants who do not share mainstream American values have immigrated here. The past record is mixed. Many Italians, Jews, Germans and other Europeans who immigrated here from the early 19th century to the early 20th century brought socialist and communist values that may be argued led to the New Deal. As the great grandchild and grandchild of such immigrants I have concluded that it takes at least three generations, maybe more likely five generations, for Americans to assimilate. However, that assumes functioning school systems.

In fact, our school systems are not functioning as they did when my mother's grandfather came here in the 1880s, or even as they did when I went to elementary school in Astoria, Queens in the 1960s. Rather, the schools are infested with absurd approaches such as multilingual education and identity politics that may result in self-esteem for the students (or not, who knows whether the advocates of these programs are even capable of testing whether they work)but are highly destructive of participation in the American polity. The history of multilingual societies such as the French in Canada suggests that multilingualism is destructive and will make it even more difficult for immigrants to America to adjust. These are concerns that economists and libertarians who are right in their rationality but wrong in their culture overlook.

Immigration reform needs to be associated with education reform. Making English the official language of the United States, elimination of fraudulent multi-lingual education programs and requiring all immigrants to learn English while inconsistent with libertarian purity is likely goood common sense.