This article, Immigrants value education – so we should value them, is worthwhile reading, particularly in our current climate of hostility and fear towards anyone ‘foreign’. On top of unwelcoming rhetoric towards immigrants, even if skilled (as international students or those lured to fill skills shortages), we have the additional unease of the Refugee Crisis across Europe and beyond. If it is not leaching off public services, it is the question of social integration.
What is so crucial about Ross Finnie & Richard Mueller’s article is that rather than perpetuate the negative myth that immigrants are outsiders who migrate to that special country of opportunity to suck all resources without contributing, Professor Finnie & Prof Mueller use historical references and simple figures to demonstrate that these individuals have their values, and education is one of them. They work hard, the educate themselves, they integrate, and they contribute. In the case of political asylum, for example, many refugees led a stable and prosperous life in their home country: they had nice homes, went to school, had families, celebrated holidays, and paid their taxes. They worked, and contributed to their society and community. Political circumstances forced them from their homes, so they flee to start a new and honest life elsewhere.
Finnie & Mueller use the Vietnamese migration to Canada as an example, demonstrating their success and contributory factors for Canada. What is most striking in the article, however, is the paragraph quoted below (italics are mine):
“The PSE [postsecondary education] success of Canadian children of immigrants stands in sharp contrast to that of most European countries, where they generally have low levels of PSE attainment and often feel unwelcome, thus stalling their integration into mainstream society, and sowing the seeds of resentment and social unrest. Canada’s record in this regard is a testament to the country’s attitudes and institutions which generally welcome immigrants and provide them with the means to succeed. Which they then do.”
As in any situation, whether it be a friend’s party, a work office, a school reunion, or an entire country, if an individual does not feel welcome and is part of a hostile environment, the likelihood of them integrating or even being motivated to integrate and show their best side, is low. We have to start looking at the mutual opportunities between host and guest in relation to immigration, and stop focusing merely on immigrants’ economic contribution and whether it outweighs public spending.