An opinion piece about education of immigrants being a good investment for the state and country. DP
By Peter Schrag
californiaprogressreport.comm: Question: Who are the five biggest California homebuyers these days?
Answer: Garcia, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Lopez and Martinez.
No, this isn't a joke or a fantasy. According to Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California, those were the five most common names of California homebuyers in 2005, the most recent year for which he has data. In the nation as a whole, four of the 10 most common homebuyers' names are Latino. Five years ago it was two out of 10.
The story, of course, is evidence for a much larger point: Immigrants don't just "pile up" as unskilled, undereducated burdens on the economy like so many Peter Pans who never grow up or change. They learn English, get jobs and buy homes.
And as boomers retire in the coming generation, those immigrants and their children represent the core of California's labor force and, ultimately, much of the nation's as well.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.
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