Watsonville High School students explore meaning of being an American

Santa Cruz Sentinel ^ | 08/18/2014 | Terri Morgan

[artichokegrower]

Hundreds of students at Watsonville High School got their first look Monday at two new courses designed to explore "What does it mean to be American?" on the first day of the new school year.

[artichokegrower]

Watsonville is a city of 40,000 on the Central Coast of California. It is 85% Hispanic, 85% of the births at the community hospital are covered by MediCal (Medicare) and 85% of the kids attending the local public schools qualify for the free lunch program.

The curriculum, which is offered to juniors taking U.S. history, and sophomores and seniors in Sharief's English classes, aims to dispel misconceptions people have about illegal immigration

Dispel misconceptions or indoctrinate with the concept of open borders.

[SkyDancer]

That should go over good - with a Liberal bent on things.

[Michael.SF.]

Alleviating White Guilt, one class at a time.

[Ray76]

Illegal immigration is neither immigration nor legal.

[Texas Eagle]

Pinging all Central Coast FReepers and Tea Partiers.

School administrators have scheduled a special presentation for parents and community members on Friday. Along with screening the movie, the presentation will explain the new course and make information about resources available. Legorreta said she hopes people will take advantage of the opportunity to see the film and talk about immigration issues.

"It opens up the dialogue," Legorreta said. "The Latino community doesn't speak in one voice."

If You Go

: Screening of "Documented" and an overview of WHS' new "What does it mean to be American?" curriculum.

When: 7 p.m., Friday Aug. 22

Where: Mello Center, Watsonville High School, 250 E. Beach St., Watsonville

Cost: No charge

[TChad]

I'm a little vague on why illegal immigrants from Mexico and points south are so vastly superior to legal immigrants from Eastern Europe. Is it just that the former can be relied upon to vote Democrat after amnesty?

Also, if you really are a California artichoke grower, I want you to know how much I object to the bizarre-looking and tasting non-American artichokes that are sold where I live. Those vegetables are obviously alien, and I would be happy if they were made illegal. California artichokes are the best.

[American Quilter]

My sister lives in Watsonville. She told me the city council estimates that more than 50% of the residents are illegal aliens. Of course they didn’t use that term.

[polymuser]

Gosh, I wonder if they’ll resurrect the 1941 version of The American Citizens Handbook (The American Creed, as it was known before the 60’s) to use. NEA bought it from 4H in 1941 and published it until 1969, then they abruptly stopped production and buried the last 10,000 or so copies. Get one while you can.

[upchuck]

"It is 85% Hispanic, 85% of the births at the community hospital are covered by MediCal (Medicare) and..."

Medi-Cal is NOT Medicare. It is California's version of Medicaid; healthcare for low income folks.

[upchuck]

What a bunch of crap. I hope the taxpayers appreciate paying these two teachers for spending prolly untold hours preparing this liberal bull squeeze.

I’d love to see what this course has to say about the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the Declaration and, especially, Ellis Island.

[BenLurkin]

[Bernard Marx]

Illegal immigration is neither immigration nor legal.

How simple it is to think logically. Kudos.

[informavoracious]

A goal is to “teach kids to think for themselves [as long as they think the way we want them to].” I doubt it’s to make whites feel guilty - there aren’t enough of them. No, it is to tell them that whether or not they or their parents were born here, and whether or not they came through legal channels, and whether or not they are citizens, THEY are Americans. And, by extension, so are all of their extended family back wherever they came from.