Found in La Voz Latina (Savannah)
Written by Sean McKenzie
Posted on 2010-03-08
The parable of the banquet-crasher
By Sean McKenzie, La Voz Latina, Savannnah, GA.
Once upon a time, everything clicked in my high school teaching career like it hadn't before or since. I was assigned to teach a group of Latino students, and they were perfect. They never misbehaved. Ever. They studied for their tests and did well. The only problem was that none of them could graduate because of the difficulty of our supposedly easy graduation tests.
Their struggles set me on fire, and I complained to every official I could find. What's more, the students themselves became junior activists. They believed in America, and they would ride with me anywhere I went, politely portraying their plight to the powers that be. The officials would politely acknowledge the problem and make very vague declarations of support. At one point, we even met with Georgia State Senator Chip Rogers. This was before he made a name for himself in immigration crackdown circles. He listened sympathetically and gave us his card.
This was during the last years of the Bush administration before the "brown scare" engulfed our land - a time when I could discuss my student's plight and the first question on everyone's lips was not “are they legal?”
And so there was with me, on occasion, a young man who was not documented. I'll call him Carlos. He was the most intelligent student I had. He taught himself to read in only a year or so, and, out of all my students, it was only Carlos who could pass all his graduation tests.
While other students took less than an hour to complete their tests, Carlos would take the entire day, translating each English word into Spanish and then answering the questions, which he noted made no sense when translated. Using the “six hour method” to take a test, he passed his science test with a score of exactly 500, the absolute minimum necessary to pass.
Carlos was extremely articulate and committed to helping his classmates obtain a diploma. Therefore I just couldn't resist taking him up on his offer to help with the activism, and, on occasion, he would ride with me to see important people.
One night a group of us heard about a big meeting at which both Governor Sonny Perdue and Georgia State School Superintendent Kathy Cox would address the need for education reform. Of course we weren't invited- this event was for important folks only. But that didn't stop us. Like the Salahis, the couple who crashed President Barack Obama's first state dinner, we crashed this party.
We had planned on sitting or standing in the back, but when we noticed that there were reserved seats that were unclaimed up front, we claimed them.
We made our case when we had the chance, and were warmly received by the audience. The notion of hardworking kids with no chance to graduate was just too troubling to ignore. After the meeting, we started to leave, but figured we might as well hang around to see if we could get a few words with anyone important.
Sure enough, Superintendent Cox came over to “handle” us. She grew rather hostile when we didn't accept her pat answers about how hard work would eventually pay off. I was amazed to see young men who couldn't pass the state graduation test use their broken English to soundly defeat the State Schools Superintendent in debate. At one point, Carlos said to her: “We study A and B but C is on the test.” At that point I knew we had a chance to really accomplish something.
We didn't get everything we wanted from the state. Not all my students graduated. But as a result of our efforts, nearly 4,000 students across Georgia have been able to earn their diplomas using what the state calls "a variance". This would have never have happened without Carlos, who had passed all his tests, who was not here legally, but who wanted to help his friends and anyone like them who struggled with standardized tests.
Today Carlos studies to be a nurse and continues to help people. However, he will never be able to practice his skill if he is not allowed a path to citizenship.
To paraphrase a question asked by Jesus: “Who is our neighbor?”
The political authorities who explain to us why they cannot help or Carlos, the undocumented immigrant responsible for the miracle of 4,000 diplomas.