A new study from the National Research Council underscores the progressive view that taxpayers are supposed to foot the bill for Hispanic immigrants who are slow to learn English and quick to drop out of high school. Here's the (literal) money quote from the study, via USA Today's story: "Report: Hispanics Lagging In Education."

By 2030, about 25% of white Americans will be at retirement age or older, compared with 10% of Hispanics. Although a growing number of Hispanics have reached the middle class, the report says they continue to lag economically as a group because of a continued influx of low-skilled immigrants. At the same time, demand is rising for a better-educated U.S. workforce. "Perhaps the most profound risk facing Hispanics is failure to graduate from high school," the report says. Hispanics have the highest high school dropout rate of any ethnic or racial group in the USA. The report also cites low enrollment rates in four-year colleges and poor English skills. "These trends bode ill for Hispanics," the report warns. "Failure to close Hispanics' education and language gap risks compromising their ability to both contribute to and share in national prosperity." Although the report stops short of making specific recommendations, it calls for investment in education and social programs. "We hope it triggers a lot of alarms," (Marta, a Princeton University professor who headed the study panel) Tienda says.

Mission accomplished, Professor Tienda. I'm greatly alarmed at the passive-voiced offloading of personal and family responsibility for English language mastery, for high school graduation and for career skills development. All of that is resonant in the study's phrase, "failure to close Hispanics' education and language gap..." They are the ones who must assume the primary burden of closing those gaps.

Illegal immigrants deserve no government resources. But even legal immigrants who can't speak English should pay their own way to learn the language. Whenever you hear that "we" should fund programs for Hispanic immigrants with poor or no English language skills, and that our economic health is improved by such coddling, reach for your wallet. Previous generations of immigrants came here with little or no English, and learned the language on their own dime. The U.S. House, as you likely know, has recently passed a tough immigration bill. Now, the Senate weighs in.

The final result badly needs to ensure that de facto illegal immigration is put to an end in the United States, and that some illegals already here can qualify for a path to citizenship. Those who do not - and I'll defer to others on the eligibility criteria - must be required to depart. But we need to look ahead, as the NRC study does, to who pays for English language acquisistion for legal immigrants with limited proficiency. Should not the citizenship test require firm English proficiency of adults? That would certainly improve the English skills, and the school and career prosepcts of their children, wouldn't it?

Yet, echoing the NRC, Latino advocates say the larger society should shoulder the burden for the poor preparation of so many Hispanic immigrants for life in the United States in a time of accelerating global economic competition.

How Latinos fare academically will shape the nation's future, says Melissa Lazarin, senior education policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, a civil rights group. "We need to ensure that they're well-educated and they get the tools that they need to contribute."

What you mean "We," Kemosabe? They need to ensure "they're well-educated." The sanest future is one in which legal immigrants to the U.S. from all over the world rely on their own resources - which may include classes they pay for themselves, with their earnings - to learn the language of their adopted nation. We have already been pumping billions of dollars nationwide into English As A Second Language classes for Hispanic students, and look at the overall results. You value what you earn on your own.

TECHNORATI TAGS: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, HISPANIC IMMIGRATION, UNITED STATES, EDUCATION, DROP-OUT RATES, ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS, CAREER DEVELOPMENT, COSTS