TRICIA'S TIDBITS

A little background first - I got this email from a listener who was offended that Mike and I suggested that kids from Juarez who get a free education should have to pay tuition in order to use El Paso schools. Personally, I think that if we did charge a reasonable tuition for students from Juarez, we would no longer have a budget deficit in our school districts, and who knows, we might even turn a profit. So I got this email, which I included first, and then below that is my response. Feel free to email me at tricia@ksii.com if you would like to weigh in, or you can alway head to the Morning Show's Facebook page at kisselpaso.com. By the way, I didn't edit either email. They are both published in their entirety.

Thanks for listening and reading!


The e-mail:

Sometimes I wonder how people can be so stupid. They are trashing the kids that are coming to El Paso to go to school from Juarez. And now they are saying stupid stuff that is not right about how things are in the Juarez school system. I was trying to find a way to send them an email telling them how full of it they are. I hate it when people start saying, “I pay for this school with my property taxes”….there are thousands of people in this city that pay property taxes for the school districts and have NEVER sent kids to school, so they can complain too… ugh! Oh and don’t get me started on what they were saying about the kids coming over that don’t speak English….aaaaaaiiiigggghhhhhh I am thoroughly disgusted and am officially never listening to them again, ok? They are being racist, they are being mean…they are being ugly. And I don’t’ know if it’s just to get people’s goat, but I don’t think so…not the way they are trashing the Mexican people. Como si sus abuelos no vinieron de aca…jerks! Submitted By: C. Lopez



My response:

C - Good morning! First of all, we never called anyone stupid or jerks, so forgive me if I think you are a jerk as well.

We are not trashing the kids who come to El Paso for the chance at an education, we were trashing the school districts for not charging for the privilege of attending our schools. I don't think it is too much to ask that people pay for the services of which they take advantage.

As a taxpayer, I paid for the privilege of sending my children to our schools. It is neither here nor there that my children attended private schools. I had the means to send them to schools I thought were better for them and I paid for the service I used. That is what I would like people from Juarez to do with our schools - pay for the service.

You say there are thousands of people who pay property taxes in this city and have never sent their kids to the schools. It begs the question, why should we pay for something that we don't use? Why shouldn't people who use something not be required to pay?

As for kids coming over and not speaking English, my great-grandparents came to America from Lebannon in the early 1900's and spoke only Arabic. They traveled to American through Mexico and learned Spanish along the way because they had to in order to maneuver through the country. When they came to El Paso, they learned English as well. They didn't expect anyone to work around their lack of knowledge of the language of the countries they were in at the time. They knew that knowing the language of the country was the only way they were going to be able to earn a living.

I do not think that expecting people from Juarez to at least be able to converse a little in English is too much to ask. After all, El Pasoans are constantly being told that because we live on the border with Mexico that we need to know Spanish. I agree, as long as people from Juarez learn English because they live on the border with the United States.

As for being racist, if I had called people names or said I didn't want anyone from Mexico coming over to the US, that would be racist. All I said was that I want people to pay for services rendered. And no, I don't say the things I say to get people's goat. I truly believe this is the greatest country on Earth. I also believe in following the law. I only ask that everyone else follow the law as well.

One more thing - it doesn't matter from what country my grandmother or any other family member came. What matters is they saw a better life in the United States of America and became proud Americans, not Mexican Americans or Lebanese Americans or Italian Americans. If you leave your home country, for whatever reason, and go to another country in order to better your life, then you are beholden to that country. Learn and obey it's laws, wave it's flag, learn it's language, or stay in your home country and try to make your life better there. . jerk.