2186121 responses to “What about people who can only "afford hard work"?”http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldinconversation.org%2F2010%2F04%2F23%2Fwhat-about-people-who-can-only-afford-hard-work%2FWhat+about+people+who+can+only+%26quot%3Bafford+hard+work%26quot%3B%3F2010-04-23+04%3A57%3A22Sam+Richardshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.racerelationsproject.org%2F%3Fp%3D2186
I will start up by saying that this is a very good and thoughtful question and I am glad that she brought this point out. Many American tend to treat illegal immigrants, especially Mexicans with no respect because they believe that these immigrants are harming their economic. Many Americans are concerned about the negative impact of illegal immigrants, especially in particular to jobs and wages. They claim that illegal immigrants take Americans’ jobs, threaten National security, and even change the nation’s culture by refusing to learn. If these are true, why have illegal border crossings been increasing when the United States spent billions of dollars on national security? I think the answer to this question is clear-because the United Sates need illegal immigrants to fill out unwanted jobs and small businesses will not function without them which can lead to a great harm on the economy.
Americans filled to realize that illegal immigrant actually help boost up the American society. The reason for this is illegal immigrants fill the jobs that Americans refuse to take, are willing to labor for low wages and generally boost the United States economy. For example, illegal immigrants in the United States jobs include farming, constructions, repairs and installation, insulation, housekeeping and transportation services. These are all jobs that most poor and uneducated American refused to do for low wages. They also work twice as hard to be equal to average U.S. workers, and they are less likely to own properties (land, houses, stocks and business) due to the policies and restrictions placed on illegal immigrants. Therefore, Illegal immigrants are more beneficial than costly to the United State Economy.
Going back to the question, many illegal immigrants will rather become legal immigrants but they cannot afford it due to lack of funding because of low wages. I am not saying that it is okay to encourage illegal immigrants because it not fair to other immigrants who suffers to come to this country legally. However, I do not think they should be look down upon because they are great help to the United State economy, most specifically the labor market. I think the government should create some form of policy that will be much easier and cheaper for illegal immigrant to become legal. This will help more illegal immigrants become legal because money is more important in becoming legal than hard work is. “If you work hard, you can achieve anything” this is what many people in the United States and in other countries believe the American dream is. This is a myth to me, because money rules everything, if you have money, you can achieve anything. Hard work may help, but it is not enough!
I think that immigrants who do put in the hard work, especially those who do the work that most Americans are unwilling to do (evidenced by the crop growers in California who let all these fruits rot because there was no one to pick them) should be commended for what they are doing. If you think about it from the perspective of many of these immigrants, I’m sure they don’t want to be illegal. I’m sure they’d want to work jobs that pay more and allow them to do more with their lives, but they simply can’t because they can’t afford to become citizens. So then they are penalized for coming here illegally just so they can make some money to typically make a better life for themselves. If you were in that situation, isn’t that what you’d want?
I see both sides to this issue. Hard work ethic has always been a key factor through my eyes. I believe that a good work ethic is more important to have in a job/education than natural abilities and smartness. We all did not choose the circumstances in which we were born into, but determination and motivation make people stand out in a crowd. Getting accepted into Penn State is a good example. Thousands and thousands of kids applied to Penn State University and were selected mainly by looking at two numbers, their SAT scores and high school GPA. Penn State makes a majority of their decision by the students’ GPA’s. This is because the SAT’s are more of a test of natural knowledge or how smart an individual is. One’s high school GPA is a measure of how hard a student worked throughout their four years of high school to earn the grades they received. My SAT scores were not too good, but I had a very good work ethic all through high school and was able to earn the grades to make it into Penn State. In this case, work ethic proves to make an individual stand out in a crowd full of others. I believe we do need hard working immigrants in our country who have proved they want and have worked hard for a better life. Of course our country should not be open for any immigrant who wants betterment in their life because this would not be ethical, but those who prove to work hard to obtain this goal should not be held back because of money. We do need people with strong motives in our country. Think of all the “bums” in the United States today. They live freely here, but do absolutely nothing for our country. How is it fair that these people have all the opportunities and freedom in the world, but choose not to do anything with it? Then there are others outside of the United States who have great potential and strive to have a better life for themselves and their family but can’t. Money doesn’t grow on trees for everyone, but can be made through hard work. The U.S. offers the best opportunities and education in the world that many people, who have so much potential but live outside of our country, cannot receive. This is a very complex topic because there is no way of deciding who can and cannot come into our country by guessing if they’ll be successful. There is no simple way of doing this. If we started letting hundreds of immigrants in our country, they’d start taking away American’s jobs which would anger many people. Again, there is no way to please everyone. These illegally immigrating people just want a better life for their families and Americans are known across the world for having “the good life.” Most immigrants are immigrating in the first place because they are not making enough money to support themselves and family in their own country, so most are not going to legally be able to immigrate. It is not fair to push away all people from our country if they have the potential to succeed, but there has to be some kind of restriction.
I think that this is a tricky question, mainly because there is a broad misconception of areas of people’s lives that we’re not aware of. I’m not trying to generalize and say that every student that attends Penn State has had an easy life, and parents that can afford things. Yet, when we think back on the statistic that Sam shared about the poorest ten-percent of Americans still being wealthier than two-thirds of the world, I think it becomes obviously clear that most of us have no concept of people outside of our social class, especially immigrants. I know as many of us belong to tax-paying, law-abiding families, so at times it can become frustrating when immigrants reap the benefits that we supply through our government, yet I think that we must reflect on all that immigrants do for us, whether legal or not. Recently I saw, Food Inc. for the first time, and it was an excellent critique of society as a whole really. One of the points that were brought up in this movie was the use of illegal labor by many large companies such as Purdue on chicken farms. The immigrants are brought in the middle of the night and do the labor that the companies can allow them to get away with, while going unnoticed. All the while, the workers are treated at an inhumane level, one that we would never treat a “law-abiding”, “tax-paying” citizen at. There was also documentation of immigrants being used in the actual meat processing plants, and whenever the company decided that the particular immigrant was no longer of use to them, they would call immigration and have Immigration Services show up to deport. So as you can see, right now large industry is using immigrant labor as sort of this disposable labor resource. Then there’s the argument of well, those jobs could always go to legal citizens looking for work, always comes up. But I think that one has to consider that we would never subject someone we felt as being equal to that. This, brings us back into the whole issue of race, because who is to say that, just because we stripped Native Americans of their land and manifested big industry, we get to make the judgment call on who can work here, legally or not? Lastly, could many of our large industries survive without the illegal labor support of immigrants? I think that next time people criticize immigrants for their illegal status or reject them as human beings, we should remember all that they have done for our capitalist industry, and maybe question our habits of business and THEN try and correct the illegal status of many immigrants. To every argument, there are two sides, and we must never forget that for something to be solved we must not only push but also pull.
I will start up by saying that this is a very good and thoughtful question and I am glad that she brought this point out. Many American tend to treat illegal immigrants, especially Mexicans with no respect because they believe that these immigrants are harming their economic. Many Americans are concerned about the negative impact of illegal immigrants, especially in particular to jobs and wages. They claim that illegal immigrants take Americans’ jobs, threaten National security, and even change the nation’s culture by refusing to learn. If these are true, why have illegal border crossings been increasing when the United States spent billions of dollars on national security? I think the answer to this question is clear-because the United Sates need illegal immigrants to fill out unwanted jobs and small businesses will not function without them which can lead to a great harm on the economy.
Americans filled to realize that illegal immigrant actually help boost up the American society. The reason for this is illegal immigrants fill the jobs that Americans refuse to take, are willing to labor for low wages and generally boost the United States economy. For example, illegal immigrants in the United States jobs include farming, constructions, repairs and installation, insulation, housekeeping and transportation services. These are all jobs that most poor and uneducated American refused to do for low wages. They also work twice as hard to be equal to average U.S. workers, and they are less likely to own properties (land, houses, stocks and business) due to the policies and restrictions placed on illegal immigrants. Therefore, Illegal immigrants are more beneficial than costly to the United State Economy.
Going back to the question, many illegal immigrants will rather become legal immigrants but they cannot afford it due to lack of funding because of low wages. I am not saying that it is okay to encourage illegal immigrants because it not fair to other immigrants who suffers to come to this country legally. However, I do not think they should be look down upon because they are great help to the United State economy, most specifically the labor market. I think the government should create some form of policy that will be much easier and cheaper for illegal immigrant to become legal. This will help more illegal immigrants become legal because money is more important in becoming legal than hard work is. “If you work hard, you can achieve anything” this is what many people in the United States and in other countries believe the American dream is. This is a myth to me, because money rules everything, if you have money, you can achieve anything. Hard work may help, but it is not enough!
I think that immigrants who do put in the hard work, especially those who do the work that most Americans are unwilling to do (evidenced by the crop growers in California who let all these fruits rot because there was no one to pick them) should be commended for what they are doing. If you think about it from the perspective of many of these immigrants, I’m sure they don’t want to be illegal. I’m sure they’d want to work jobs that pay more and allow them to do more with their lives, but they simply can’t because they can’t afford to become citizens. So then they are penalized for coming here illegally just so they can make some money to typically make a better life for themselves. If you were in that situation, isn’t that what you’d want?
I see both sides to this issue. Hard work ethic has always been a key factor through my eyes. I believe that a good work ethic is more important to have in a job/education than natural abilities and smartness. We all did not choose the circumstances in which we were born into, but determination and motivation make people stand out in a crowd. Getting accepted into Penn State is a good example. Thousands and thousands of kids applied to Penn State University and were selected mainly by looking at two numbers, their SAT scores and high school GPA. Penn State makes a majority of their decision by the students’ GPA’s. This is because the SAT’s are more of a test of natural knowledge or how smart an individual is. One’s high school GPA is a measure of how hard a student worked throughout their four years of high school to earn the grades they received. My SAT scores were not too good, but I had a very good work ethic all through high school and was able to earn the grades to make it into Penn State. In this case, work ethic proves to make an individual stand out in a crowd full of others. I believe we do need hard working immigrants in our country who have proved they want and have worked hard for a better life. Of course our country should not be open for any immigrant who wants betterment in their life because this would not be ethical, but those who prove to work hard to obtain this goal should not be held back because of money. We do need people with strong motives in our country. Think of all the “bums” in the United States today. They live freely here, but do absolutely nothing for our country. How is it fair that these people have all the opportunities and freedom in the world, but choose not to do anything with it? Then there are others outside of the United States who have great potential and strive to have a better life for themselves and their family but can’t. Money doesn’t grow on trees for everyone, but can be made through hard work. The U.S. offers the best opportunities and education in the world that many people, who have so much potential but live outside of our country, cannot receive. This is a very complex topic because there is no way of deciding who can and cannot come into our country by guessing if they’ll be successful. There is no simple way of doing this. If we started letting hundreds of immigrants in our country, they’d start taking away American’s jobs which would anger many people. Again, there is no way to please everyone. These illegally immigrating people just want a better life for their families and Americans are known across the world for having “the good life.” Most immigrants are immigrating in the first place because they are not making enough money to support themselves and family in their own country, so most are not going to legally be able to immigrate. It is not fair to push away all people from our country if they have the potential to succeed, but there has to be some kind of restriction.
I think that this is a tricky question, mainly because there is a broad misconception of areas of people’s lives that we’re not aware of. I’m not trying to generalize and say that every student that attends Penn State has had an easy life, and parents that can afford things. Yet, when we think back on the statistic that Sam shared about the poorest ten-percent of Americans still being wealthier than two-thirds of the world, I think it becomes obviously clear that most of us have no concept of people outside of our social class, especially immigrants. I know as many of us belong to tax-paying, law-abiding families, so at times it can become frustrating when immigrants reap the benefits that we supply through our government, yet I think that we must reflect on all that immigrants do for us, whether legal or not. Recently I saw, Food Inc. for the first time, and it was an excellent critique of society as a whole really. One of the points that were brought up in this movie was the use of illegal labor by many large companies such as Purdue on chicken farms. The immigrants are brought in the middle of the night and do the labor that the companies can allow them to get away with, while going unnoticed. All the while, the workers are treated at an inhumane level, one that we would never treat a “law-abiding”, “tax-paying” citizen at. There was also documentation of immigrants being used in the actual meat processing plants, and whenever the company decided that the particular immigrant was no longer of use to them, they would call immigration and have Immigration Services show up to deport. So as you can see, right now large industry is using immigrant labor as sort of this disposable labor resource. Then there’s the argument of well, those jobs could always go to legal citizens looking for work, always comes up. But I think that one has to consider that we would never subject someone we felt as being equal to that. This, brings us back into the whole issue of race, because who is to say that, just because we stripped Native Americans of their land and manifested big industry, we get to make the judgment call on who can work here, legally or not? Lastly, could many of our large industries survive without the illegal labor support of immigrants? I think that next time people criticize immigrants for their illegal status or reject them as human beings, we should remember all that they have done for our capitalist industry, and maybe question our habits of business and THEN try and correct the illegal status of many immigrants. To every argument, there are two sides, and we must never forget that for something to be solved we must not only push but also pull.